GameReality
by AlchemicBankai
Summary: Jason's bored with his current life, so when he's offered the chance to go to the world of pokemon, he eagerly accepts. What differences can there be from the game everyone's so familiar with?
1. Chapter 1

Finally, I'm back. Although with the original of this, "Jason's Sinnoh Adventure", I ended up updating later and later untill I stopped writing it altogether, I transfered some pokemon around and got to starting over my Diamond Version. So now I should be updating as I go through the game. The first 2 chapters are going to be rewrites of the 3 chapters of the original. And now without further adeu, GameReality.

Chapter 1

Game Start

A loud ringing could be heard throughout the halls as the bell signaling the end of the school day went off. As students exited their classes to head home or to after school activites, one teen with black hair could be seen putting on the green and white striped hat of his favorite character from his favorite anime, Bleach. He left to the bus ramp to board his ride home. As soon as he sat down on the bus, he pulled out his DS and began to play with his favorite time killer as of late, Pokemon: Diamond Version. Although he had already beaten the game, he still enjoyed raising different pokemon. 

"I'm home Mom." he said arriving at his house. He turned into the kitchen to see his mother.

"Hello Jason," she said. "How was school today?"

"Same as it was yesterday, the day before, the day before that, and the same as it'll be on Monday." he replied, heading upstairs to his room.

"Oh, you're just imagining it." 

"It might as well be true." Jason said dissappearing into his room.

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Jason looked around. He was in a huge stadium with people cheering all around. Bright lights lit the arena. Across the field, opposite Jason, stood another person. The person threw a ball which opened and shot out a red light that formed into a large Salamence. Jason looked down to see he too had a pokeball in his hand. Not knowing what would come out, he threw the ball out onto the field to release...

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"Yawwwwwwwwwwwwnnnn..." Jason sat up in his bed, stretching the sleep out. "Aw, man. I never manage to stay asleep for the good parts. I wonder what pokemon I had." he said outloud.

"Talking to yourself again?" asked his mother, walking into the room. "I swear I'm going to have to put you in the insane asylum one of theses days." she said jokingly.

"Thanks Mom, I love you too." he said still alittle sleepy.

"Breakfast is ready when you get dressed." his mother said leaving the room.

Jason got out of bed and put on black jeans, a dark blue shirt, an unbuttoned dress shirt, and his hat to top it off. He went downstairs and was greeted with the aroma of fresh pancakes.

"Mmmmmm..." he hummed, grabbing a plate full of pancakes. "So," Jason said. "Where's Dad?"

"Oh, he got called in early." she said, then looked up at him. "Why do you always have to wear that funny-looking hat all the time?"

"Hey!" Jason said defensively, "My hat's awesome, don't be mean about it."

His mother laughed. "Well then, you and your 'awesome hat' can go take out the trash since you didn't do it yesterday." 

"Alright," he said, finishing his food. He grabbed the trash and went out the front door. That's as far as he got however, as he promptly dropped the bag in shock of what stood before him. A white, roughly 20 ft tall creature on all fours was in his front yard.

"_Greetings_," It said using telepathy. "_I am Arceus, the divine pokemon. I have come to offer to take you to the world of pokemon._"

"Am I dreaming?" asked Jason.

"_No._"

"So then I'm hallucinating?"

"_All of this is real. However, if you do not wish to accept this offer..._"

"Oh no, I'll go. Its just that I've been so bored lately that this seems like the kind of thing my mind would make up. Let me just grab some things and I'll be ready." Jason said turning back to his house. Then he saw his mother in the front door, apparently passed out from the sight of Arceus.

'_Oh, crud. I forgot about her._' he thought. He dragged her back into the house and put her on the couch. '_I suppose it wouldn't seem right to just up and leave, but there's no way I'm passing this up, be it real or a dream. I'll just have to leave a note._' 

A few minutes later, he came back outside with a backpack full of things he would take on his trip.

"Okay, I guess I'm ready to head out." Jason said looking up at the large pokemon.

"_Very well then._" it said opening a vortex behind it. 

'_Well world, you haven't done much for me so there's no point in sticking around. Bye Mom and Dad. Maybe I'll be back someday._' And with that thought, Jason entered the vortex into the world of pokemon.

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Jason awoke to find he was lying in some grass. Getting up, he saw that it was night out and he was next to a lake surrounded by forest.

"Well," he said outloud, "looks like either my dream's not over, or I might actually be in the pokemon world."

He heard a hooting sound and turned to see a Hoothoot sitting in a tree.

"Woah," Jason said, staring at the owl pokemon. He wanted to get a closer look, but as soon as he took one step towards the tree the Hoothoot flew off. He shrugged it off, and ginned to himself.

"Looks like I'm really here." He said happily. But his happiness was cut short as his stomach growled, loudly. Deciding it was best to look for a town, he grabbed his backpack and set off in what he hoped to be the right direction.

After what seemed like forever, Jason began to see lights. Hurrying, he soon reached the edge of a town.

"Hmmm, I wonder what town this is." he said to no one in particular. " It's not really big enough that I recognize it."

His thoughts were soon forgotten, as a delicious smell entered his nose. He followed the smell to a resturant. Just as he was about to go in, he remembered that he wouldn't have any of the currency of this world. He turned around sadly only to bump into another person.

"Oh excuse me." the man said.

"I'm sorry, I..." Jason paused looking at the man. "You're Prof. Oak!"

"Yes, I am." the old man said smiling. "And who might you be?"

"Oh, my name's Jason."

"Ah, you're Jason. Arceus told me you'd be in this area. Why don't we grab a bite to eat?" Oak said.

They were seated and brought their food quickly. "So," Jason asked, "You met Arceus too?"

"Yes, it was one day while I was out checking the pokemon in the fields outside my lab. All of a sudden, the pokemon backed away and Arceus appeared. It told me that it was going to bring a human from another world to see how they would adapt. He asked that I would meet them here, explain the situation, and help them get started."

"Started?" Jason asked confused.

"On your journey as a pokemon trainer of course, unless you don't want to..."

"No, I want to!" Jason said cutting him off.

"Good then," Oak said. He paid the bill and he left with Jason as they both started walking down the street.

"Y'know," Jason started, "won't I look stupid?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm sixteen. Most people start their journeys at ten, right?"

Prof. Oak laughed. "Is that what they think in your world? Arceus did say that you'd know some things about our world already."

"Really? It knew that?"

"Yes, apparently Arceus has been sending images of our world to your world in the form of dreams. Those in your world that recieved these dreams used them to create the game you are familiar with. However, these games are not fully correct representations of this world. There are differences between them, the actual age of most starting trainers is sixteen for example."

"Oh well, how convienient for me. I always did find the idea of ten year-olds crossing countries and continents by themselves very odd." Jason said.

He stifled a yawn. "So where shall I crash for tonight?"

"Why not try the Pokemon Center?" suggested the Professor, pointing to the building up ahead with the large letters P.C. on it. "They always allow traveling trainers to stay the night. I'm sure they'll let us both stay."

The Pokemon Center was huge inside. At the counter stood a Nurse Joy. "Good evening," she greeted the two. "How may I help you?"

"Could we have two rooms please?" asked Prof. Oak.

"Okay, right this way then." Joy said, leading them down a hallway.

'_So both of them are real,_' Jason thought to himself.

"Here we are," the nurse said, stopping at two doors. "Please have a good night's rest." she said as she headed back to the counter.

"Tomorrow we'll go to Prof. Rowan's lab," said Oak. "There we'll get your starter pokemon and Pokedex. Good night." He went into his room and Jason went to his.

Jason quickly got into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt that he grabbed before leaving his house.

'_Looks like I'm gonna be a pokemon trainer._' he thought as he layed down on his bed. '_I hope I don't screw anything up._'

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And there you have it. A revised and better version of the first chapter and a half of the first fic. I hope to get the rest revised soon, so I can go back to writing some new chapters.

Any comments on how the fic's now being written would be appreciated and newcomers to the stroy can tell me what they think, so please send in reviews.

�


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

First Partner

The sun shined brightly through the window of the room, too bright for Jason to continue sleeping. He woke up stretching and dully looked around. That is until he remembered where he was. He looked around the room again and noticed that his clothes from yesterday were cleaned and folded for him on the table.

_'Good room service for a free room. I forgot about cleaning my clothes.'_ He got dressed quickly; simply happy once again that he was in the Pokémon world. When he had all of his things together, he went out to the lobby to find that Prof. Oak was already there.

"Good morning," he said as Jason walked up to him. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah, I think I'll stay at a Pokémon Center anytime I can."

"Well then, let's get going." They left the P.C. and headed off for Prof. Rowan's lab. As they walked, Oak noticed that Jason seemed distracted. "What's on your mind?" he asked.

"Hm?" Jason looked up. "Oh, I was just thinking about my starter. We're in Sinnoh, so my choices are Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup right?"

"That's right. Do you know which one you'll choose?"

"That's the problem. There's so much to consider; their types, evolutions, personalities. It's just so much to think about."

"Well, I'd suggest that you decide. We're here."

Jason looked up to see a large building with a lot of land behind it. Prof. Oak rang the door bell and was quickly answered by a man in glasses and a white lab coat.

"Hello, how can I help-" he said as he realized who he was talking too. "Ah! Prof. Oak! P-Please come in!" the man said opening the door wider. He led them to a living room-like area before running off and returning with Prof. Rowan.

"Samuel!" Rowan said while entering the room. "This is an unexpected surprise, seeing you so soon again after returning to Sinnoh. Good to see you."

"You too, Prof. Rowan. How is being back in Sinnoh?"

"Ah, you know. I need to catch up on studying Sinnoh's Pokémon, so I started some trainers off too get data on all of them." It was then that he noticed Jason. "Speaking of trainers, who is this?"

"Ah yes, this is Jason." said Prof. Oak, introducing them.

"Hello," Jason said, slightly intimidated by Rowan's face.

"He's actually the reason that I'm here," said Oak. "I was hoping that you could help him get started on his own journey."

"Well that is unfortunate…" he replied. "You see, I just gave away my last starter Pokémon yesterday."

"How long will it be until you'd have more?" Jason asked hopefully.

"I'm afraid that I won't have any new starters for about a week and even then I have to prepare them before they can go with a trainer."

"Man, over a week…" he said disappointed. "Oh well, I guess I couldn't really come at a random time and expect everything to be ready for me."

"Ah, that's right!" Prof. Oak said all of a sudden. Everyone looked at him confused. "Oh, you see I brought this with me on a hunch." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a poke ball. He opened it and in a flash of red light there appeared a large, orange lizard with a flame burning on the end of its tail.

"Charrr…." The Pokémon let out a yawn.

"He may not be a Sinnoh starter, but would you be okay with this?"

The expression on Jason's face told his answer. "Heck yeah! I'll be better than okay! You should have told me you had a Charmander on you! This is better than any Sinnoh starter!" He paused for a second. "Uh, no offense Prof. Rowan." He said, remembering where he was.

The old man chuckled. "None taken, I haven't seen someone so excited about their Pokémon in a long time."

The whole time, Charmander just sat there looking rather confused and slightly startled at Jason's excitement.

Jason squatted to Charmander's eye level and held out his hand. "Hey there, my name's Jason. Would you be my first Pokémon?" He asked.

The lizard Pokémon just looked at him for a bit, unsure of what to do. It looked into Jason's eyes and felt a friendly, calming feeling. Making up its mind, it put its claw in Jason's hand and let out a happy "Char!"

"Well, I see you two will be getting along just fine," Said Prof. Oak.

"Well then, while I did not have a starter, I do have a Pokédex for you." He said, handing Jason said item.

"I'm sure we don't need to tell you what your goal is." Prof. Oak said then whispered, "Here's 50 poke dollars to cover you until you start winning money from battles."

Jason gratefully took the money, happy that he wouldn't start off broke. As he put the money in his pocket, the assistant that opened the door earlier came up to him. "Excuse me," he said. "This is a little embarrassing to be asking, but can I ask you for a favor?"

"Sure," replied Jason, too happy about starting his journey to care what the favor was. To him, it could just be classified as a side-quest-like-thing.

"Thank you. You see, my daughter, Dawn, just started her journey as a trainer yesterday. She was so eager to go that she left as soon as she got her Pokémon and forgot her Pokédex. I'd deliver it to her myself, but I'm needed here in the lab. Could you please give it to her if you see her?"

"No problem," said Jason, taking the Pokédex out of his hand. "I'll get this to her no sweat!"

The assistant was relieved. "Thank you. Now, Dawn's-," he began, but Jason had already put Charmander in its ball and was leaving instead of listening.

"Good bye Profs.! Thanks for everything!" he said heading out of the lab. Oak and Rowan wished him luck and waved good bye as he got farther away and out of sight.

"Well," Prof. Oak said, turning to Rowan. "It was good seeing you again Prof. Rowan, but I must be headed for my boat home as I'm needed at my own lab."

"It was good seeing you as well," replied Rowan. They said their good byes and Oak left down the road as Rowan went back into his lab to continue his research leaving one worried assistant to wonder to himself.

"_He's almost as impatient as Dawn. How will he even know who she is?"_ His thoughts were interrupted by Rowan calling him and he quickly rushed inside.

Jason headed to the edge of town and went to the Poke Mart to buy supplies. "Let's see," he said to himself. "The most important things that I need are probably: a sleeping bag, Pokémon food, potions, and," he looked at his small backpack, "a bigger backpack. A tent would be nice, but probably expensive."

He strolled up and down the aisles, looking for where everything was. He grabbed a simple, black sleeping bag and a duffel bag with many pockets for holding various things. When he got to the Pokémon food however, he realized that he really didn't know what Charmander would eat. So, he simply figured that Charmander could choose for himself and he let him out. "Char!" it said, happy to be out of its poke ball.

Jason rubbed Charmander's head. "Hey there, little guy. I need you to let me know what kind of food you like. So if you could just choose one of these," he said pointing to the shelf with the cans of Pokémon food. Charmander took his time smelling each one, deciding on which one had the best flavor.

"Charmander Char!" it said at last, pointing to a steak flavored brand.

"Steak, huh? You've got good tastes, Charmander my friend." Jason grabbed a couple cans and some potions then went to the cash register to pay for everything.

"Your total comes to 42 poke dollars," said the cashier after scanning the last item.

Jason was slightly shocked. "Uh, yeah. Here," he said, handing over the money. _"Geez Oak, how was 50 supposed to cover me until battles?"_

"Thank you, have a nice day," the cashier said, looking glad that the Pokémon with the open flame on its tail, which Jason had left out, was leaving the store.

"Well," Jason said to Charmander, "we had better be pretty good at battling, or we may not get to eat every now and then."

The lizard Pokémon looked up at Jason, feeling that with his new trainer, they could beat any opponent. "Charmander!" it replied confidently.

Jason smiled. "Well then, lets head out!" he said, and they headed together into the woods on route 202 towards the next town.

Almost as soon as they were out of sight of the town, a wild Bidoof came out of the grass and ran at them. Jason and Charmander dodged to the side and Bidoof turned around, getting ready for another tackle. "Alright!" Jason exclaimed. "Our first battle! You ready Charmander?"

"Char!" it replied, eager to win its first battle.

"Good! Let's start with Scratch!" Jason said as Bidoof charged at them again. Charmander threw out its claw before Bidoof could get too close and ended up knocking it back a few feet. The wild Pokémon was already breathing heavy. "Great, now use Ember before it can recover!"

"Chaaaaarrr!" it yelled as it spit out fire at its target. The flames hit dead on and burned Bidoof. The wild Pokémon cringed and ran off before it could get beat any worse.

"Yeah, we did it! We beat our first Pokémon!" Jason yelled excitedly.

"Charmander Char!" said Charmander, equally happy about the victory.

After they calmed down, they continued walking. They ran into more Pokémon here and there, defeating each one without difficulty. After a couple hours, they stopped near a small pond to rest and eat lunch. Jason opened up a can of the Pokémon food for Charmander and used some water from the pond and the flame on Charmander's tail to cook some instant noodles. "You're great y'know, with you I don't have to worry about battles or cold food." Jason told his Pokémon.

"Char char," Charmander said while scratching its head. It enjoyed the praise.

The two finished their meals and were ready to start walking again when they heard a noise coming from behind them. They turned around to see some kids walking out from behind some trees, two boys and a girl. One of the boys pointed at Jason. "Hey big guy," he said, trying to look cool, "I challenge you to battle!"

"C'mon Tristan, you know you aren't going to win," said the girl, ruining the boy's "cool" act. "You saw how he beat all those Pokémon. You're not that good."

"It's because he's good that we want to battle him," said the other boy. "You don't understand, Natalie."

"But Logan, you guys don't even have your trainer licenses yet."

"That doesn't mean we can't battle!"

"Um," Jason spoke up, "I'll battle if you want."

"Really? Cool!" the boys said in unison. The girl just sighed. "Me first! Me first!" said the first boy.

"Okay then, Tristan right? I'm Jason."

"Yeah, let's go Starly!" the boy said, throwing his poke ball. It opened and in a flash of light, a small bird Pokémon appeared.

"Starly!" it cried.

"Alright, it's our first trainer battle! Ready Charmander?" said Jason addressing his Pokémon.

"Charmander!" it shouted ready to battle.

"Starly, use Quick Attack!" shouted Tristan, taking the first move.

"Charmander, Ember!" Before the lizard Pokémon could let loose its attack, Starly slammed into it and knocked Charmander down.

'_Darn,'_ thought Jason. _'It's faster than wild Starly.' _"Charmander, use Scratch!"

"Starly, fly up!" As Charmander ran to attack the bird Pokémon, it flew up above and out of reach. "Ha-ha, you can't hit me, so I'm gonna win!"

"You think so, huh? Charmander, shoot Ember straight up in the air!" Charmander did as ordered and shot flames right up at Starly. The bird dodged out of the way just in time.

"You missed big guy!"

"Look again."

"Huh?" The boy looked up in time to see the flames spread like a water sprout at their max height. With no where to run, Starly got hit and lost altitude.

"Good job, now finish it with Scratch!" Charmander ran up just as Starly was low enough and clawed it, knocking it to the ground in defeat.

"Wahoo! We did it! We won our first trainer battle!" said Jason with Charmander jumping for joy right beside him.

"Aw man, this sucks," said the boy, returning his Starly to its ball. "Oh well." He looked at Jason with a smile. "Thanks big guy! That was lotsa fun! Here you go," he said holding out about a dollar in change.

"Thanks, but I can't take that," said Jason, not wanting to feel like a bully beating up kids for money.

"But, then it won't be a real battle," said the boy pouting.

"Okay then, but only because it was a real battle," Jason said, taking the money. "I think you said you wanted to battle too?" he said addressing the other boy.

"No thanks," he replied. "After that, I know I don't stand a chance."

"Oh, well, okay then. Charmander needs a rest anyways. Could you guys point me to the nearest city?" Jason asked.

"Okay," said the girl. She turned back towards the trees she and the boys came out of. "Jubilife's that way."

"Alright, thanks. C'mon Charmander," he said, returning the lizard Pokémon to its poke ball. He started to walk off into the trees then turned to face the kids. "Good bye, take care!"

"See ya later big guy!"

After leaving the kids, Jason was still walking after about an hour. He was taking care to avoid any wild Pokémon so that Charmander could rest. _'I hope I come up to Jubilife soon,'_ he thought. After a few more minutes, the trees began to thin a Jason walked up to the entrance to Jubilife City. "Alright, I made it," he said out loud. "I thought I'd have to sleep outside for sure." He decided that the first place he should go was the Pokémon Center to have Charmander healed. As he walked up to the doors, they opened up and someone ran into him hard, causing them both to fall over.

"Ow, what the heck?" said the person. He got up and Jason looked at him to see that he had a striped shirt, a red scarf, and oddly-shaped blonde hair. The boy spotted Jason and apologized immediately, "Uh, sorry about that." He quickly took off running, as if his life depended on it.

'_Was that the rival?'_ Jason thought as he watched the boy run off. He picked himself up and proceeded inside.

"Hello. How may I help you?" asked Nurse Joy as Jason walked up to the counter.

'_Large identical family of Nurse Joys, check.'_ "Yes, could you please heal my Pokémon?" he asked while handing her Charmander's poke ball.

She seemed a bit surprised. "Is this all?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah. Why?"

"Oh, I'm just used to healing more than this at once," she said. She turned around and put the ball into the healing machine.

"Um, could you also tell me if there's a room I can use tonight?" he asked, remembering that it was getting kind of late.

"Of course," Joy replied taking a look at the computer. "We still have plenty of rooms." A small "ding" was heard and she turned to get Charmander's poke ball and hand it back to Jason. "All done," she said.

"Thank you, I'll be back," he said and walked out of the Pokémon Center.

Almost as soon as Jason was outside, a man walked right up to him. "Hello," he said smiling. "You're a Pokémon trainer aren't you?"

"Um, yeah," Jason replied, surprised by the sudden appearance of this man.

"Good, good. Now, do you know of the Pokétch?"

"Yeah, the Pokémon watch right?"

The man smiled wider. "Right you are!" he said, happy that his product was well known. "I see that you don't own one yourself. It's your lucky day! I'm the Pokétch company president and we're holding a campaign! There are three clowns on the streets of the city and each will ask you a different question. If you answer their question right, they'll each give you a special coupon. If you can bring me all three coupons, I'll give you a Pokétch, free of charge!"

"Sweet," Jason said. "I'll get those coupons no problem." He went off to find the three clowns.

He got the first two coupons quickly as the questions weren't hard. The third however, was a different story. Almost an hour had passed since he had spoken to the Pokétch president, and it was getting dark out. As he walked down a street, he saw an old man struggling with some bags. Jason immediately stopped what he was doing and ran over to help.

"Need a hand?" he asked.

"Oh, yes please," the old man replied, letting Jason grab a few bags. "I was just thinking that I wasn't going to make it home with all of these groceries, I'm sorry to bother you."

"Don't worry about it, I'm glad to help. Now, where is your house?"

"It's just outside of the city. Follow me." It didn't take long to reach the old man's house as it was very much "just outside the city". They walked up to the front door and just as the old man was about to open it, a wild Bibarel came out of the woods. It sniffed around and looked up at the bags, smelling the food inside them. It opened its mouth and shot out a stream of water to knock the groceries out of the old man's hands. The old man managed to get out of the way of the Water Gun, but Bibarel charged right at him.

"Let's go, Charmander!" Jason shouted, throwing out the poke ball.

"Char!" the lizard Pokémon said, glad to be out of its ball again.

"We'll handle this," Jason told the old man. The sudden appearance of Charmander had startled Bibarel and Jason decided to use that to his advantage. "Charmander, use scratch!"

Charmander ran up to the beaver Pokémon and hit it with its claw. Bibarel was knocked back a bit, but it wasn't hurt much.

'_Guess I can't expect much else against an evolved Pokémon__.__'_ Jason thought as Charmander was dodging Water Guns. "Move in and keep using scratch!" he told his Pokémon.

Charmander managed to get in two more hits before Bibarel finally hit with Water Gun sending Charmander flying back to Jason.

"Are you okay?!" he asked, worried for his Pokémon.

"Charmander char," Charmander replied, standing back up. It was breathing heavily and looked like it would faint if it took another hit.

'_Darn,'_ Jason thought. _'We have to end this quickly, but the only effective move we have is scratch because Bibarel's a water type.' _"Alright, use scratch as strong as you can!" he told his Pokémon.

As Charmander ran towards its opponent, Bibarel shot off its largest Water Gun yet. Before it could hit however, Charmander's claw began to shine with a metallic glow. It used its claw to split the Water Gun in two and send Bibarel flying back into the woods.

"Yes! We did it! Great job Charmander!" Jason exclaimed.

"Charrr…" Charmander said in a mix of tiredness and happiness.

"Oops, I forgot that you're so tired. Here, take a rest," Jason said, returning his injured Pokémon to its poke ball.

"Thank you so much young man," said the old man. He had seen the whole battle.

"It was nothing. If anything, I should be thanking you. Because I helped you, I got to battle and my Charmander learned Metal Claw." Jason replied.

"Wait here a sec," the old man said as he went into his house. When he came out, he handed Jason a fishing rod. "I want you to have this for helping me."

"Sweet, thanks a lot!" said Jason. "It's getting dark so I'd better get back to the Pokémon Center. See ya later!" he said as he ran back towards the city.

"So long," said the old man.

As he got back to the Pokémon center, Jason saw the Pokétch Company president waiting for him. "Sorry," he said. "I got kind of sidetracked and couldn't get my last coupon."

"Ah, that doesn't matter," said the president.

"It doesn't?" Jason asked confusedly.

"I saw that you helped that old fellow back there. That kind of action doesn't happen often and deserves to be rewarded, so I'm going to give you the Pokétch now," the president said.

"Oh, well, thanks."

"Now, I must be off. Keep up the good work," he said as he walked off.

"Well that was corny, but I guess it pays to be nice." Jason went on inside the Pokémon Center.

"Hello," said Nurse Joy. "I was beginning to think that you weren't coming."

"Oh, I just was just out doing good deeds," he said jokingly. "Would you please heal my Charmander again?"

"Of course," Joy said taking his poke ball and putting it in the machine.

As the healing began, a boy walked through the front door looking very tired. He had short black hair, a red hat, and a red scarf like the boy Jason saw earlier in the day. "Has anyone seen a guy with weird blonde hair?" he said coming over to the counter.

"I did," Jason said. "You could say we kind of 'ran into each other'."

"Yeah, you get that a lot with Barry. I swear that guy can't sit still to save his life," the boy said shaking his head. He held out his hand. "I'm Lucas by the way."

Jason shook it. "Jason," he said. "You missed your friend by a few hours."

"Yeah, looks like I'm going to be staying here tonight." Lucas said, as he a turned to ask Nurse Joy to heal his Pokémon and for a room.

After getting Charmander, Jason headed off to his own room and dropped into bed as soon as he entered. "Gawd today was long. But at least I've got something to use against the rock gym. And a Pokétch," he said to himself through a yawn. With his last thoughts toward the next day, he fell asleep, exhausted from his first day as a Pokémon trainer.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

First of all, I'd like to say I'm sorry that I've taken such a long time to update. Life got very, very busy after the first chapter and I haven't had much time to type. But, with school ending I should have much more time to work on this fic.

Secondly, I would like to request a beta reader. I need someone to read over the chapters before hand and to discuss my ideas for this fic with. This is important as I get stuck a lot and need help to make this fic stay interesting.

So, that's that. This was the last revision chapter and everything from now on is entirely from scratch. If all goes well, you can expect the next chapter soon. Remember that nothing motivates an author more than a bunch of reviews. Until next time!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Dawn

Jason woke up early hoping to get a good start on his next destination, Oreburgh. He had just woken up, but his mind was already racing with thoughts of his first gym battle. After gathering his things together he left his room and entered the lobby where Nurse Joy was already standing at the counter. "Good morning," she said.

"Good morning," Jason replied. "Do you know if Lucas is up yet?"

"Yes, he already left actually. I believe he said something about catching up to his friend."

"Oh, oh well, thank you," he said leaving. _'Man, I was hoping I could challenge him to a battle. Guess I'll just have to ask him the next time I see him.'_

As soon as he exited the city, he put his headphones in and turned on his iPod. It was one of the things he had packed before he came to the Pokémon world. As the music played, he started thinking about home. _'I wonder how Mom and Dad are taking my leaving. I mean, I guess it might have been kind of wrong to just leave, but how could I pass up a chance like this?'_ He decided it was best not to think of home or he might depress himself, so he just focused on his music and the path in front of him.

After a few hours of eventless walking, the playlist reset itself. Jason looked down at his Pokétch for the time. It read 12:23. "C'mon this is so boring!" he shouted to no one in particular. "Yesterday there was wild Pokémon and trainers, today there's nothing!"

Then, inspiration struck him. "I know what to do," he said. "Come on out Charmander!" He tossed the poke ball in the air and released his Pokémon in a flash of red light.

"Char!" the lizard Pokémon said, happy to see his trainer.

"Hey there, Charmander. Since there isn't anyone to battle, I thought that you could get in a little exercise," said Jason.

"Char?" Charmander said with a confused look.

"I figure if we run the rest of the way, we can get there quicker and give you some better endurance."

"Char," Jason's partner nodded in understanding.

"So, um, readysetgo!" he shouted and took off running, holding his hat so it didn't fall off.

It took a second for Charmander to realize what happened, but soon he was running right behind Jason.

"Geez you're fast," Jason said, seeing how quickly the lizard Pokémon had caught up. "But, how long can you keep up?" He started running faster, but Charmander kept catching up every time he did.

After about another hour of running nonstop, they both got tired and decided to rest. Charmander had more of its food and Jason pulled out a snack. A loud rumbling could be heard after Jason had hardly taken his first bite. The two looked up to see large rain clouds forming in the sky.

"Okay, time for you to get back in your ball," the trainer said. "I wouldn't want your fire to go out."

"Charmander char," the Pokémon said before it was returned.

Jason started running, looking for a place to get out of the rain, which was pouring down hard. After about a minute, he found the cave leading to Oreburgh. "Finally," he said, entering the cave. He found a dry spot on the ground and sat down. He took his hat off and began to get the water out. "Man that just came out of nowhere. But hey, if I remember correctly, this cave means I'm almost at Oreburgh." He pulled out Charmander's poke ball and let it out again.

"Char?" it said, confused as to why it was out of its ball again so soon.

"We're almost to the next town," explained Jason. "I need you so I can see in this cave. We have to go through to reach Oreburgh."

Charmander smiled, happy to help his trainer. "Char char!"

"Alright then," said Jason, putting his hat back on. "Let's go!"

They walked through the cave without much difficulty. It seemed that no one else got trapped by the rain. A group of Zubat was the only Pokémon that they ran into. They reached the exit in about an hour, but it was still raining so they decided to wait before going out. After another hour, the rain finally stopped. Jason once again returned Charmander to his poke ball and exited the cave to find that the city was just outside.

Oreburgh was a large place, not as huge as Jubilife, but still large in its own respect. There were many buildings and the entrance to a coal mine lay right at the edge of town. But of course Jason's first destination was the Pokémon Gym, where he was ready to try for his first Badge. He headed right for the entrance as soon as he saw the building.

Just as he was about to enter however, the doors opened and "This is so not fai- Oof!" could be heard as Jason and a person exiting the building collided and fell to the ground. The other person got up first. "I'm so sorry. Are you…Oh my gosh!" the person said.

Jason opened his eyes and looked up. He saw a girl his age with blue hair with yellow clips and carrying a yellow duffle bag. She was wearing a hat with a poke ball symbol on it, a black sleeveless top, a pink skirt, and pink boots. Jason stared for a second before he felt that something was missing. He got up to his feet and looked around himself. Charmander's poke ball was still there, as was his bag. He reached up to scratch his head when he realized, his hat was gone! He looked at the ground to see if it had fallen off, but it wasn't there. Then he looked up at the girl and saw that she had replaced her hat with his and seemed to enjoy simply wearing it.

"Um, I'm sorry but that's kinda my hat," he said.

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry!" she said embarrassed. She took off the hat and returned it to Jason who put it back on immediately. "Yeah, I couldn't help it. I'm such a huge fan of Bleach."

"You watch Bleach?!" Jason asked, surprised that the same anime he watched was aired in the Pokémon world too.

"Yeah, who doesn't right? I'm Dawn by the way."

"I'm Jason," said the boy before his stomach growled loudly, demanding food. "Um," Jason said looking around. "Would you like to grab a bite to eat?" he asked.

"Sure," Dawn replied happily. "I haven't gotten to talk with another Bleach fan in a long time."

They went to a nearby fast food place and ordered some burgers. As they ate they got to know each other. "So," Jason said. "What were you so upset about when you came out of the gym?"

"Ooh, don't remind me. I had just gotten there to battle the gym leader and they asked for my Pokédex. But when I looked in my bag, it wasn't there. I think I accidently left it in Sandgem and now I have to go all the way back just to get it," Dawn said, feeling down.

"That's right! I was at Rowan's lab the day after you left there. Your dad asked me to give you this because you left in such a rush," Jason said pulling out her Pokédex and handing it to her.

"My Pokédex! Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you!" Dawn shouted as she hugged Jason.

"Uh, you're welcome," Jason said, blushing a little. He wasn't exactly Mr. popular-with-the-ladies back home and wasn't used to such close contact with a girl.

"So, you're a new trainer too?" Dawn asked, letting him go.

"Uh-huh."

"So who'd you pick?"

"Huh?" Jason asked confusedly.

"Who'd you pick as your starter?"

"Oh, well you see, when I got to Rowan's there weren't any starters left. But Prof. Oak was there and he gave me this." Jason pulled out his poke ball and let Charmander out.

"Charrr..." it said, waking up from a nap.

"Wow! A Charmander! You almost never see them in Sinnoh!" Dawn exclaimed. "And you got to meet THE Prof. Oak! You're so lucky."

"Yeah, I guess."

"So who else do you have?"

"Hm?"

"You know, what other Pokémon have you caught?"

"No one else, Charmander's my only Pokémon."

"Really?" she asked, finding this as odd. "Why? Don't you know it's safer with more Pokémon?"

"That all depends on how you look at it. I figure that if I only train one Pokémon at a time, it will grow faster."

"Well, you could still catch more Pokémon, you'd just put them in your PC box."

"Ok," Jason said in a serious tone. "But think about how the Pokémon would feel."

"What do you mean?" asked Dawn.

"Being put onto a computer, never knowing when or if you'll come out again, not being able to do anything about it, I think it would be cruel to do that to a Pokémon. So I decided that I'm only going to catch six Pokémon that I'll always have. So, I have to make sure that any Pokémon I catch I'm going to be willing to always have with me."

Dawn was stunned. "Wow," she said. "I've never thought of it that way. That really would be cruel."

"Sorry," Jason said using his normal laid-back tone again. "I guess that was kinda deep."

"Don't be, it was, inspiring," said the female trainer. "You know what? I think I'm gonna adopt your philosophy. I can't stand people who are mean to Pokémon, and what you said makes a lot of sense."

"So, what Pokémon do you have?" asked Jason.

"Way to change the topic. Well, if you really want to know, you can watch me beat the gym leader. Thanks to you, I can battle him now."

"Okay then, let's go. I wanna challenge him too, ladies first, of course."

The two left the restaurant and returned to the gym. The lobby was a lot like the lobby of the Pokémon Center, but with a lower ceiling. "Hello," said a man at the counter. "Are you here to battle Roark?"

"Yep," Dawn said. "And I've got my Pokédex to register this time too."

She handed said item over and the man placed it in a machine. After a few seconds of typing, the man handed it back to Dawn. "There you go you're registered for the Sinnoh league. And you're going to register too, correct?" he asked addressing Jason.

"Yeah," said Jason as he handed over his own Pokédex and the man repeated the same process that was done with Dawn's.

"Okay, you're all set. Roark's right through those doors. Good luck."

"Thanks," the two trainers said and they walked through the double doors opposite the entrance. The main room was extremely large, containing a battlefield suited to rock-type Pokémon. Boulders and some smaller rocks littered the bare ground everywhere. On the other end of the field sat Roark, reading a book of some kind.

The Gym Leader looked up. "Hello there," he said getting up. "I guess you're here to battle. I was just studying up on some interesting fossils, but I could use the exercise. So who's first?"

"I am," said Dawn stepping forward. "My name's Dawn."

"Okay then Dawn, my name's Roark. Let's get this started. Go, Geodude!" he threw out his poke ball to reveal a small rock-like Pokémon with strong arms.

"Geodude!" it said.

"I choose, Buneary!" Dawn said throwing her poke ball. In a flash of red light, a small rabbit-like Pokémon appeared. It had brown fur and one of its ear's was coiled up.

"Buneary!" it said, ready to battle. Jason moved over to the bleachers on the side of the room so he could have a better view of the entire battle.

"We'll take the first move!" said Dawn. "Buneary, use Ice Beam!"

The rabbit Pokémon opened its mouth to let out a snow-white beam directed at Geodude. The attack hit right on target and the rock Pokémon instantly fainted.

Needless to say, both Roark and Jason were surprised. "Dawn," said Jason. "How does your Buneary know Ice Beam already?!"

"It was a gift from my dad. He gave me the TM to teach it to celebrate me becoming a trainer. Pretty cool, huh?" she explained.

"Well, I can't say I was expecting that," said Roark, regaining Dawn's attention. "But this next one will be a bigger challenge! Go Onix!"

This time Roark's Pokémon was a huge snake-like creature that appeared to be entirely made out of boulders. The Pokémon let out a loud roar.

"Okay Buneary, use another Ice Beam!" Dawn told her Pokémon. The attack hit and Onix took a lot of damage, but it didn't faint.

"It'll take more than one hit to take down this guy! Onix, use tackle!" The giant Pokémon sprang strait at Buneary.

"Dodge it!" said Dawn.

The rabbit Pokémon jumped to the side but after the head went by, Onix's tail bent to hit Buneary. "Buneary!" the Pokémon shouted in pain.

"Oh no, Buneary, are you okay?!" Dawn asked. The rabbit slowly stood back up.

"Buneary," it said to assure its trainer. But it was heavily breathing and couldn't take another hit like that.

"Okay Buneary, let's try to finish this off! Ice Beam!"

"Onix, use another tackle!"

As it sprang at Buneary again, the rabbit Pokémon shot its attack hitting Onix in the face. The rock-snake Pokémon had too much momentum already though, and it rammed right into the smaller Pokémon, kicking up a lot of dust. When the dust had finally settled, both Pokémon where knocked out cold.

"Wow," said Jason as both Roark and Dawn recalled their Pokémon. "This is awesome. Roark's good but Dawn's beaten two of his Pokémon with one."

"Well," said Roark pulling out another poke ball. "You're pretty good. I'm already down to my last Pokémon. But don't expect this one to go down as easily as the others! Go Cranidos!"

Roark's final Pokémon had the appearance of a dinosaur. It had a blue dome-like skull and four spikes in the back of its head. "Cranidos!" it yelled.

"This is my last Pokémon too! Go Piplup!" Dawn threw out her poke ball and released a small blue penguin Pokémon.

"Piplup, Piplup!" it said ready to fight.

"So now you have a type advantage, but that's not going to give you the win! Cranidos, use Head butt!"

"Piplup, use Bubble!"

The penguin Pokémon launched its attack but Cranidos dodged every bubble. With incredible speed it leaped from boulder to boulder and rammed its head into the small penguin sending it flying.

"Piplup!" Dawn cried worriedly. Piplup landed hard on the ground and barely managed to get back up.

'_How is she going to win this? Piplup can hardly stand.' _Jason thought, worried for Dawn.

'_How am I going to win this?' _Dawn mirrored Jason's thoughts.

"Looks like you won't be getting your badge today! Cranidos, finish this with another Head butt!" Roark ordered.

Just as Cranidos was about to finish the penguin Pokémon, Dawn made her command. "Piplup, use Bubble straight down!"

Dawn's Pokémon did as it was told and the force of the attack propelled it into the air leaving Cranidos to hit a boulder behind where Piplup was standing. The boulder was smashed to pieces, but Cranidos had stopped where its opponent had been and was taking every hit from Piplup's attack.

"Now Piplup, use Pound!"

As it came down, the Pokémon threw out its fin and with gravity bringing it down, the attack hit Cranidos strongly in the head. The two successive attacks being too much to handle, it wobbled for a bit then fell down unconscious.

"We did it!" Dawn shouted. She ran down to the field and squeezed her Piplup in happiness, then realized that it had taken a lot of damage and returning it to its ball. Roark returned his Cranidos and walked over to Dawn.

"Well, I have to hand it to you. That last move of yours was great. And as with League rules, beating me has earned you this, the Coal Badge," he said handing her said badge.

At this point, Jason jumped out of the stands and ran over to Dawn. "That was incredible!" he said, giving her a high five.

"Thanks," said Dawn enjoying the praise.

Jason then turned to Roark. "So, it's my turn now right?"

"Hold on," replied the Gym Leader. "My Pokémon need a nice long rest. Plus it's getting late. We'll have our match tomorrow. See you later." He turned and walked through a door to a different part of the gym.

"Well that sucks," said Jason, who had been ready to battle right then. "But it can't be helped."

"C'mon," said Dawn. "I have to go get my Piplup and Buneary healed."

"Oh, right, let's go then."

They got to the Pokémon Center and Nurse Joy put Dawn's Pokémon in the machine. "So Dawn," Jason said while they were waiting. "Would you maybe want to get some dinner in celebration of your win?" Jason asked.

"Wow, lunch and dinner all on the first day we've met. Have you fallen for me?" she said with a wink.

"HUH?!" Jason let out, blushing red.

"Ha-ha, I'm just messing with you. A celebration dinner sounds nice." Nurse Joy handed her back her Pokémon. "C'mon I saw a nice place earlier."

"Uh, yeah," Jason said following her out the door. They went to a nice yet inexpensive restaurant. While they ate they discussed things like Bleach and battles and what kind of Pokémon they liked, etc. They were still talking when they left.

"Wow, you're flat broke huh?" said Dawn.

"Yeah, sorry about that, I just haven't battled at all today so I don't have any money. I'll pay you back, I promise," replied Jason embarrassed that he had to borrow her money to pay for his meal.

Dawn giggled at him. "Don't worry about it. It's no big deal."

"No, no, I insist. So, are you going to head back to Jubilife in the morning?" Jason asked as they reached the Pokémon Center again.

"Well, I thought I'd watch you're match with Roark, you know, since you watched mine." They came to their rooms. Dawn opened the door to her room. "Thanks for dinner. I had fun," she said, hugging Jason.

"Oh, well, you're welcome," he said returning the hug while trying to hide another small blush.

"Good night, see you tomorrow," see said, leaving to her room.

"Good night," Jason said before going to his own room to retire for the night.

If this chapter seems a little short, that's because it is. This one has about 1,000 less words than last chapter. But that's because last chapter I was just improving something I had already written. This one was done from scratch. And it was posted quickly! I knew that I could do it if I tried! I don't think I will be able to get every chapter in this quickly, but I'm definitely going to try my best.

As always, please leave reviews, I'd really like to know if you guys like this. I post faster if I know people are waiting for each chapter. So until next time, cya later.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

First Encounter

"Hello! Jason!" Dawn said as she knocked on the door to the room Jason spent the night in. She had woken up an hour ago, taken a shower, gotten dressed, eaten breakfast, and done the rest of her morning ritual but Jason had yet to come out of his room. "Wake up!" she said with a final loud knock, to wich Jason finally opened the door.

"Hello?" he asked sleepily. He was very tired and still had his sweats on.

"You were going to battle Roark today, remember?" Dawn asked. "I _was_ going to watch, but I guess I should just go ahead and start walking back to Jubilife..."

At this, Jason was fully awake. He quickly shut the door and several noises could be heard along with the occasional bang followed by an "Ow!". After about three miuntes, Jason came out fully dressed and ready for the day.

"I'm ready, let's go." They said good bye to Nurse Joy as they left the Pokemon Center. As the headed over to the Gym, Dawn asked Jason about his late wake up.

"So, do you always wake up that late?"

"Oh, sorry about that. I was just up late going over your match with Roark and how he battles. I've only got Charmander, so I have to be careful with how I battle."

"Oh, so did you figure out how you're going to win?"

"You'll just have to watch and see." Jason said smiling.

They entered the Gym and went to the battle area. "You sure took your time," said Roark as Dawn went to sit in the bleachers. "I almost didn't think you'd come. I hope you're ready."

"Don't worry," Jason said, pulling out his poke ball. "I just wanted to make sure you had my badge ready to hand over."

"Ha, we'll see about that! Go, Geodude!" Roark said, releasing his Pokemon.

"Geodude!" the rock Pokemon said.

"Let's do this, Charmander!" Jason said throwing the poke ball out onto the field.

"Char!" Charmander said, ready for battle.

"We'll go first! Charmander, Ember!"

Geodude used its arms to block the attack. The fire hit, but did little damage.

"Fire's no good against a rock Poke-" Roark started, but stopped when he saw Charmander running up to Geodude.

"Charmander, Metal Claw!" Jason ordered.

Charmander came at Geodude with a metallic uppercut. Geodude didn't see it coming because it had been blocking the Ember attack, and was knoced back a few feet.

"So you used Ember as a distraction so you could get in the Metal Claw," Roark said. "Good stratagy, but Geodude's not down yet! Now, use Stealth Rock!"

"Use another Metal claw!"

Geodude managed to throw large chunks of rocks into the air before Charmander landed a hit in its face, knocking it out.

"Alright! Good job Charmander!" Jason said to his Pokemon.

"Don't relax just yet," Roark told him. "Stealth Rock is an attack that immediately hits any opposing pokemon that comes into battle."

"Then I guess its a good thing that I won't be switching. Charmander's my only Pokemon."

"Really?" the Gym Leader asked. "Most trainers have more than one by now."

"So I've heard," Jason said slightly annoyed.

"Well then, if that's your only Pokemon, I have the advantage the entire match! Let's go, Onix!" Roark said tossing out the poke ball. The rock snake Pokemon appeared and let out a loud roar.

"Charmander, use Ember again!"

"Onix, Tackle!"

Charmander shot its attack directly at its opponent, but Onix plowed right through without even flinching.

"Jump, Charmander!" Jason commanded his Pokemon. Charmander jumped just before Onix could hit, and caught its horn to land on its head.

"Good job, now use Metal Claw!" The lizard Pokemon began pounding away at Onix's head, causing the giant Pokemon to roar in pain.

"This is ridiculous!" Roark exclaimed. "Onix, use Dig!"

"Let go of it Charmander!" Jason said as Onix lifted its head back like a snake.

As its head raced to the ground, Charmander let go of the horn and landed safely. But now Onix was underground and could strike from anywhere. After about a minute of suspense, Onix came up right under Charmander, knocking it into the air.

"Charmander, turn around and use Metal Claw!"

Once it reached max height, Charmander faced the ground and brought its claw down on Onix's head as it fell. The rock snake let out one last roar and collapsed to the ground.

"Great job! Only one more to go!" Jason said.

"Hey," Dawn said from the bleachers. "That was what I did with Piplup wasn't it?"

"You don't mind do you?" asked Jason.

She giggled. "Nope, just as long you win!"

"Well," Roark said, regaining Jason's attention. "You did really well, but it looks like I'm going to win."

"Why?" Jason asked. "Charmander's still standing."

"It isn't going to be able to take another blow."

Jason looked over at his Pokemon and found that the Gym Leader was right. Charmander had been hit hard and its breathing was heavy.

"Yep, fire against rock is bad match up, but I guess everyone has to learn some way. Lets finish 'em off, Cranidos!" Roark said as he brought out his final Pokemon.

"Cranidos!" the small dinosaur roared.

"Headbutt!" Roark commanded.

"Charmander, use Metal Claw!"

The two pokemon ran at eachother and their attacks met head-on. Charmander got knocked back a bit while Cranidos had flown back and slammed into a boulder. Cranidos let out a weak cry, and fainted.

"Yes! We did it Charmander! We won!" Jason shouted as he ran over to his Pokemon.

"Char char!" The lizard pokemon said, trying to hide its exhaustion.

"I don't get it," said Roark who was stunned at the power of his opponent's last attack. "How did that happen?"

"What you didn't know? Metal claw has a chance of raising its user's attack power. With as much as Charmander used it, it must have happened a few times." Jason smiled. "But I guess everyone has to learn some way."

Dawn had already come over from the stands. "You did it!" she said, hugging him yet again.

"Thanks," Jason said blushing.

"This is embarassing," said Roark as Dawn let go of Jason. "I lost twice in a row, and to trainers without any badges. But, life's tough I guess, I have a long way to go. Here," he flipped Jason his badge. "You've earned your Coal Badge. I wish you both good luck."

"Thanks," they said. Jason returned Charmander to its ball and they left the gym.

"How about we get some food after I heal Charmander?" Jason asked. "I forgot all about breakfast and now I'm starved."

"Sure, that sounds- Oh!" Dawn said suddenly stopping.

"What's wrong?" asked Jason confusedly.

"I just remembered that I'm supposed to meet Prof. Rowan in Jubilife today! He's gonna be so mad if I'm late!" She turned around and started running towards the cave back to Jubilife. "I'm sorry," she shouted to Jason as she left. "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Okay!" Jason shouted. "I guess..." He pulled out his poke ball and sighed. "Just you and me again, huh?"

He went to the Pokemon Center and got Charmander healed, then went to a fast food place to eat. Once he was done he left Oreburgh and went into the cave back to Jubilife. He let out Charmander to be his light again as he headed through the cavern.

_'Man,'_ he thought. _'This is so boring. I wish Dawn was here. Then I'd have some one to talk to. I have Charmander, but I can't tell what he's saying. I can understand his emotions, but not enough to hold a long conversation. Gawd I miss her...'_

"Help!"

"What was that?" Jason said, coming out of his thoughts. He looked up and saw someone hanging off of a high ledge about thirty feet away. The person was struggling to get up but grabbed a loose rock that caused them to loose their grip.

"Ahhhhhhhh!!" they screamed as they fell.

Jason instinctively ran over and stretched out his arms. "I got you," he said as he caught the person just as got there. The person looked up at him.

"Thanks a lo- huh?" they said as Charmander ran up, providing light.

Jason looked at the person he was holding. "Dawn?" The two stared at eachother for a while, the darkness hiding the blush on both of their faces.

"Um," Dawn finally said. "You can put me down now."

"Hm? Oh r-right," Jason said letting her down gently. "So, uh, how did you end up there?" he asked.

"Oh, well, it's kinda embarassing. I was running so fast in here that I tripped and broke my flashlight. I got lost in the dark and eventually found myself hanging on a ledge," she told him.

"Guess it's a good thing that I came along then," Jason said as they started walking together.

"Yeah," Dawn agreed. "You have a knack for coming at the right time huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well first you came to Oreburgh and gave me my Pokedex, and now you saved me in here. I guess I owe you now."

"Well no, I did owe you for dinner last night."

"You're gonna compare eating to saving someone's life?"

"Well you need to eat to live don't you?"

"I guess, but still, thank you," Dawn said as she reached over and gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

"Um, uh, y-your welcome!" Jason said, hiding the largest blush yet.

After a few minutes of walking silently, they reached the end of the cave and went outside.

"Okay Charmander, thanks for the light. Now get some rest, buddy." Jason said as he returned his Pokemon.

"I still think it's amazing how you beat Roark with just Charmander." Dawn said, feeling up to conversation.

"It helps that I don't have any other Pokemon. When I went from Sandgem to Jubilife, we fought a buch of wild Pokemon and Charmander beat them all, so he got more experience than if I used two Pokemon. Not that having two Pokemon is a bad thing, you beat Roark with yours." Jason said.

"Yeah, that was a lot of fun. I just hope I do as well with the other Gyms."

"Well that's what the journey's for right? We battle gyms and become great Pokemon trainers. We've just got to make sure we keep getting better."

"Yeah, I hope I can make it," Dawn said, thinking about how she rushed into the cave and needed to be rescued.

Jason noticed that she looked down. "How about a little music?" he asked trying to cheer her up. He pulled out his iPod and handed her a headphone.

"Where'd you get that?" Dawn asked, pointing at the device.

"Oh, um, it's from, home! Yeah," Jason said remembering that she didn't know that he was from a different world.

"Hm, you never did say where you're from," Dawn said curiously as she put in the headphone.

"I'm from, uh, uh, Kanto!" Jason lied quickly.

"Really, then why didn't you go to the Gyms there?"

Jason pressed the play button on his iPod hoping to distract Dawn from her questions. It worked and soon they were both listening to the music.

"Hey," she said as a new song came on. "This is one of Bleach's opening themes right?"

"Yeah," Jason said. "I have all of them on here."

"That's awesome," Dawn said and went back to listening. "Except the Bleach ones, I've never heard these songs before."

"Hey look, were here!" Jason said again trying to avoid telling her where he was really from.

They entered Jubilife and Dawn immediatly began to search for Prof. Rowan. They ran around for about half an hour before they saw him at the exit to the next town. He was being confronted by two oddly dressed people with a large "G" symbol on their shirts.

Rowan looked past the two people and saw the two trainers. "Ah, Dawn, Jason. Good timing. These two have been babbling nonsense and refuse to leave. Please, show them some manners."

"Why must you be so difficult Proffessor?" said one of the odd people. "We don't want any trouble. All we want is for you to give us all of your research findings."

"In return," the other said as both turned to Jason and Dawn. "We'll refrain from causing massive injury to these two children."

"Please," Jason said, knowing who these people were. "You couldn't cause injury to a toothpick."

"Leave the Prof. alone!" Dawn said.

"Try and make us then," the two responded, and threw out two poke balls to reveal a Wurmple and Zubat.

"This'll be easy. Go Charmander!" Jason said letting out his Pokemon.

"Go Piplup!" Dawn said, also letting out her Pokemon.

"Wurmple, use String Shot!" commanded the Pokemon's owner.

"Charmander, use Ember!" said Jason.

As the two fired at eachother, the second odd person saw this as a chance for a sneak attack.

"Zubat, use bite!" he said.

Dawn saw this and acted. "Piplup, use Bubble on Zubat!"

Just as Zubat was about to hit Charmander, it was forced away with a stream of Bubbles. Wurmple was heavily damaged as it had taken most of Charmander's attack, but hadn't managed to hit its opponent once.

"Trade you," Jason told Dawn quickly. "Charmander, use Scratch on Zubat!"

"Piplup use Pound on Wurmple!"

The two attacks hit easily since the swap confused the opponents and the worm and bat were knocked back to their owners.

"Urgh," the two let out. They returned their Pokemon and mutually agreed to retreat. "Because Team Galactic is benevolent to all, we shall leave," they said and ran off.

"We did it!" said Jason and Dawn, giving eachother a high five.

"That lot," began the Prof. "They called themselves Team Galactic."

"What did they want Prof. Rowan?" asked Dawn.

"You see, when Pokemon evolve, they seem to release some type of energy. However, I believe it's not a power that we can control. But they seem to want to use that power for something..."

"It doesn't matter now," said Jason, making sure not to let on that he knew a lot about them already. "They didn't get your research."

"Oh, Proffessor, what did you need to see me about?" asked Dawn.

"Oh that? I just wanted to see how well you handled battling. I wasn't sure you were cut out for it when you left, but after that battle I know that you'll do fine. You too Jason. You both battled spectacularly. I'm glad I entrusted the two of you with Pokedexes. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be back to my lab." With that he left back to Sandgem.

"Geez, he sure knows how to leave when he wants. Not even a good bye," Jason said.

"Yeah, he's like that. But he's really a nice person," said Dawn.

"I guess. Well it's getting kinda dark out." Jason checked his Poketch which read 6:38. "Lets head to the Pokemon Center and make sure they still have rooms."

The two went and found that there were infact pleanty of rooms left. The two had their Pokemon healed and decided to get some dinner together again.

"So can you pay for yourself this time?" Dawn asked jokingly.

"Yeah, after beating both Roark and those Galactic guys, I've got some money now." Jason replied, taking another bite out of his burger. "The next town's Floraroma right?"

"Yep," Dawn said taking a sip of her soda. "There's no Gym, but I hear the flowers look amazing."

"By the way Dawn, I wanted to ask you something," Jason said.

"What is it?"

"I was wondering if you'd consider traveling together. It'll be a long journey, so it may be good for us to, y'know, keep eachother company, learn from eachother, keep eachother out of trouble, that sorta stuff."

"Hm," Dawn said, thinking it over.

Jason suddenly became very nervous. _'Crud, she's gonna say no. I knew it was a bad idea. She probably thinks I'm some kind of pervert. Way to go idiot.'_

"Ok," Dawn said.

"What," Jason said, snapping out of his thoughts. "Really?"

"Yeah, you make a good point. Besides, don't we make a great team?"

"Yeah," Jason said. "Thanks."

"No problem," Dawn replied.

They paid for their food and left to the Pokemon Center. Once they got there, they said good night to eachother and went to their rooms. Jason layed down in his bed and went happily to sleep, ready for the next day of his journey, and his first day traveling with Dawn.

--

Well first off, I guess I'd better say that I'm sorry that I took so long to update. I've been very much occupied with the game The World Ends With You. But I've finished and can now start working on this again.

Just to be clear, most of this will follow along the games. There will be bits from the anime thrown in, as well as stuff I feel the need for.

I'll be bringing in my favorite character from the anime next chapter. This person was one of those one episode only people that we never hear from again. I'd like to see if anyone can guess who it'll be. My hint is that they're from the first season.

That's about it. I hope I'll update soon and I'll be awaiting your reviews. Cya later.


	5. Chapter 5

Test of Skill

Jason woke up early that day. He had decided that he should start getting up earlier so that Dawn did not have to wait for him like the day before. After getting all of his things together, he went out into the lobby to wait for Dawn who  
came out about half an hour later.

"What took you so long?" Jason asked jokingly.

"I thought I'd get up later since you woke up so late yesterday." Dawn answered.

Jason laughed. "Really? I got up early because of that."

They both laughed at their actions as they left the Pokemon Center. They began heading down the route to Floaroma town and talked along the way.

"So, I know you want to wait a while before you get another Pokemon, but did you have anything in mind?" Dawn asked.

"Hmm," Jason said. "I don't know. I was figuring that I'd probably just be using Charmander for a while, since the next couple of gyms won't be anything Charmander's weak to."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense. He's pretty strong."

"Yeah, it's hard to believe that I've only know him for a couple days."

"Kinda makes my Pokemon seem a little weak, huh?"

"Not at all, you beat Geodude and Cranidos in one hit each, and Onix in two. Charmander had to get two hits on Geodude, a whole bunch on Onix, and the hit on Cranidos was boosted."

"Well, when you put it like that, I guess my guys are pretty good after all."

"I certainly wouldn't want to mess with them." Jason said laughing.

"Well I wouldn't want to battle you either. It still took alot of skill to beat three rock pokemon with a fire type."

"I'm not that great," Jason said. "Geez, look there." He pointed ahead of them at a cave entrance.

"Oh man, not another cave." She complained, remembering the predicament from the cave to Oreburgh.

"Don't worry, I'm with ya this time," Jason reassured as he pulled out his only Poke Ball. "Charmander's better than any flashlight."

Dawn smiled. "You're right, but can we stop for a bit?"

"Uh, sure I guess."

"Ok, I'll be right back." Dawn said as she began walking to the trees.

Jason started to follow. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"Don't follow me! I'm going to the bathroom!" Dawn yelled.

"Oh, sorry!" Jason said feeling a bit stupid. He went back to the cave entrance and waited. "I guess I've got to get used to this. Gawd I'm an idiot."

Dawn returned after a bit and they entered the cave together. Jason let out Charmander to light the way, and it was glad to get the exercise. After a while they came across a lake.

"Oh, wow. It's so beautiful." Dawn said as she looked at the sparkling water.

"Yeah, who'd of thought that there'd be a whole lake in here?" said Jason. He looked around and picked up a flat stone. "Watch this." he said as he threw the stone across the water. It skipped into the darkness beyond the reach of Charmander's light and a loud CLACK could be heard as it apparently hit a wall. Then a few screeches rang out followed by a swarm of Zubat flying straight at the trainers.

"Good going, genius!" Dawn said as she let out Piplup to help fight off the Pokemon. "Use Bubble!" she commanded.

"Use Ember!"

The two Pokemon fired their attacks into the swarm. The Zubat dispersed temporarily, then angrily attacked the pokemon and their trainers.

"Get away from me!" yelled Dawn as she swatted at the swarm. One scratched her arm as she did so. "Ow!" she yelled in pain.

"Dawn!" Jason said, hearing her yell. He swung his bag around him and the Zubat backed off. He ran over to Dawn and drove off the Zubat around her too.

"Charmander, use Ember again!"

"Char!" the lizard Pokemon cried as it let out a stream of small flames and drove off the last of the attacking Pokemon. Jason looked at the scratch and quickly pulled out a small pack of bandages which he wrapped around Dawn'sarm.

"Thanks," she said. Then she looked over at her Pokemon which was lying on the ground. "Oh no, Piplup!" She ran over to her Pokemon as was relieved that it had merely fainted.

"Is Piplup alright?" Jason asked.

"Yeah," Dawn said, returning her pokemon. "What about Charmander?"

Jason looked over at his Pokemon and saw that it too was collapsed on the ground. He ran over to it and found scratches all over its body. "Aw man, sorry buddy." He muttered as he returned the lizard Pokemon to its Poke Ball. After a few seconds, he realized that he had put away their only light source.

"Jason," Dawn said, "I can't see. Where are you?"

"I'm right here, follow my voice. I'm holding out my hand, grab it so we don't get separated."

Dawn did as she was told and she managed to find his hand. Jason put his other hand to the wall, and they began to walk.

"It's kinda scary in here without being able to see," Dawn said quietly, so as not to wake anymore Pokemon that might attack the two.

"Don't worry, as long as we've got a hold of each other and I've got my hand on the wall, we should be out of here in no time." Jason assured.

They were still walking for about 2 hours before they finally saw the light coming from the exit.

"Finally," Jason sighed, turning to see Dawn's face for the first time in what seemed like forever.

"I never thought I could miss the sun so much." She said as they left the cave, stretching her arms.

The sight waiting for them was amazing. Entire fields of flowers that seemed to stretch on forever surrounded a small town. In the distance what looked like windmills could be seen.

"Amazing, I've never seen anything like this. It's so beautiful." Dawn said in awe of the sight.

"Yeah," Jason said. "It's a much better improvement than that cave."

Dawn turned to him with a pleading look. "Can we stop here today? Please?" she asked.

"Sure, I can see that you like it here. I guess spending the rest of the day here wouldn't be so bad." Jason agreed. "But I think before we go looking at the flowers, we should heal our Pokemon first."

The two walked to the Pokemon Center to find it completely crowded. People were standing from wall to wall with no room to go through.

"What's going on?" Wondered Dawn.

"I don't know, but it's going to be next to impossible to get to the counter." Jason said worried for his fainted Charmander.

"Jason! Dawn!"

The two turned around to see two boys coming towards them, one with a red Beret, and the other with oddly shaped blonde hair.

"Lucas? Barry?" Both Dawn and Jason said in unison.

"I didn't know you guys knew each other." said Lucas.

"I met Dawn in Oreburgh." said Jason.

"Hello." Dawn greeted.

"Hey, sorry about runnin' into ya the other day." Barry said to Jason.

"Don't worry about it, Dawn did the same thing.""Hey!""So Lucas, I didn't get the chance before, wanna battle?" Jason asked.

"No thanks, I'm gonna save my guys' strength for the tournament." Lucas said.

"What tournament?" Dawn enquired.

"You didn't know? They're holding a tournament here in Floaroma." Answered Barry.

"So, that's why there's so many people here."

"Sweet, this could be a good chance to see how well we do against a bunch of trainers." Jason said.

"Well you'd better hurry and sign up, it starts in less than half an hour." Lucas said.

"Where do we sign up?"

"Over at the counter." Barry said, pointing to it.

"Oh geez," said Jason. He and Dawn pushed their way through the crowd and after about a minute made it to the counter. "We need our Pokemon healed please." Jason said handing over Charmander's Poke Ball.

"And we need to sign up for the tournament." Dawn added as she handed over Piplup's ball.

"Okay, just sign here and pay the entry fee," Nurse Joy said while taking their Pokemon and sliding over a clipboard with many people's names already on it. Jason and Dawn both signed their names and payed the fee, and Nurse Joy handed them back their Pokemon once they were healed. "Thank you. The tournament will start shortly."

After about another 10 minutes. A guy with a megaphone came and stood over at the counter. "ATTENTION EVERYONE! THOSE COMPETING IN THE FLOAROMA TOWN TOURNAMENT PLEASE GO OUTSIDE TO THE BACK! THE PRELIMINARIES WILL BE ANNOUNCED AS SOON AS EVERYONE IS OUTSIDE! THANK YOU!"

Nearly every trainer in the Pokemon Center went outside to await the preliminary rounds.

"OKAY," said the megaphone guy again. "IF YOU WOULD ALL GET A SLIP OF PAPER  
OUT OF THIS BOX," he pointed to a box that sat on a table infront of a tournament chart. "YOUR PAPER WILL TELL YOU WHICH BLOCK YOU ARE IN! PLEASE HEAD TO THE AREA OF YOUR BLOCK!"

Everyone drew their slip of paper and read their letter.

"I'm in block B," said Dawn.

"Block F," said Lucas.

"Block E," said Jason.

"I got block C!" Barry said, already excited.

"Good, none of us have to face off in the prelims," Jason said. "Let's all make it to the main event."

"Right!" agreed Dawn, Lucas and Barry, then they all went to their areas.

"ALL RIGHT, THE PRELIMS' RULES ARE AS FOLLOWS: FOUR TRAINERS, ONE POKEMON EACH, LAST PERSON AND POKEMON STANDING MOVES ON!"

'Easy choice,' Jason thought as he pulled out Charmander's Poke Ball. He eyed the other trainers in his block as they all brought out their own Poke Balls.

"EVERYBODY READY? GO!"

"Charmander, go!"

"Go, Shinx!""Buizel!""C'mon Kricketune!"

The Pokemon all appeared, ready to battle.

"Shinx, use Spark on Buizel!"

"Buizel use Swift!"

The two pokemon attacked each other, and Jason used this time to get rid of the Bug Pokemon. "Charmander, use Ember!"

"Kricketune, Bide!"

The flames hit the bug, but it managed to survive and began glowing brightly.

"Oh man, Charmander get behind Buizel!"

The lizard Pokemon ran behind Buizel, which confused said Pokemon and the Pokemon it was fighting. They looked over at Kricketune in time to see the bright light headed their way. The light consumed the field, and when it faded, the already tired Shinx and Buizel fainted, revealing Charmander who hadn't taken the hit.

"Alright Charmander, finish it with Metal Claw!"

"Kricketune, use Fury Cutter!"

The bug Pokemon swung it's knifelike arm, but Charmander was too fast for the heavily damaged Pokemon. The force of the Metal Claw sent Kricketune back a few feet and knocked it out.

"Group E has a winner, Jason and Charmander!" said the judge watching the match.

"Great job Charmander, you didn't take a single hit!" Jason said as he pat his Pokemon on the head.

"Char Char!" it said, enjoying the praise from its trainer.

"I wonder how everyone else is"

"Group B has a winner! Dawn and Piplup!"

"Group F has a winner! Lucas and Turtwig!"

"Barry and Chimchar are the winners of Group C!"

"Well that answers that question," said Jason. He and Charmander ran over to Dawn as she returned Piplup. "I heard your judge, good job!"

"Thanks, it was pretty easy," Dawn said. "How'd you do?"

"We won without taking a single hit," Jason said as Charmander smiled proudly.

"Awesome," Lucas said as he and Barry came over to them. "We all made it past the prelims."

"Yeah, they're giving us about half an hour to heal and be ready for the next round," added Barry. "They want to get the first round over today and the last two will be tomorrow."

"Awesome, let's all go heal our Pokemon and do... something," Jason said. The four had Nurse Joy heal their Pokemon at once. They talked about battle stratagies until the megaphone guy announced the next round.

"ATTENTION! THE NEXT ROUND OF THE FLOAROMA TOURNAMENT WILL NOW BEGIN! THE FIRST MATCH IS BETWEEN THE WINNER OF BLOCK A, LIV, AND THE WINNER OF BLOCK B, DAWN! WOULD THE TWO TRAINERS PLEASE COME TO THE BATTLEFIELD?"

"Looks like I'm first. Well, wish me luck," Dawn said a little nervously.

"Good luck, we'll be rooting for you," Jason assured.

"Yeah, go win!" said Barry enthusiastically.

"Thanks," Dawn said and headed over the battlefield as Jason, Lucas and Barry watched with the rest of the crowd. Her opponent was a small girl in a yellow dress with a red bow in her hair.

"Hi," said the girl. "I hope you're ready to lose. Me and my sister have been practicing a whole lot!"

"Sorry, I don't plan on losing either." Dawn replied.

"If both trainers are ready, begin!" shouted the ref.

"Go Piplup!" Dawn said releasing her starter pokemon.

"Go Pachirisu!" said Liv. A small squirrel like pokemon appeared. It had white  
fur with blue ears and a blue stripe from between its ears to the end of its tail.

"Piplup, use Pound!" Dawn ordered, determined to make the first move.

The penguin ran towards its opponent, but Pachirisu moved out of the way with ease. "Hah, you have to be faster than that to hit Pachirisu!" the smaller girl said. "Now, use Quick Attack!" Pachirisu moved extremely fast and rammed into Piplup, sending it back a few feet.

"Now use Spark!" An electric current went around Pachirisu as it swiftly ran up and tackled Piplup again, causing it to fly back to Dawn.

"Are you okay?!" Dawn asked her injured pokemon.

"Piplup pip!" it replied as it slowly got up to its feet.

"Okay Pachirisu, use another Spark!"

"Use Bubble, Piplup!"

As Pachirisu ran towards Piplup, the penguin filled the area infront of it with bubbles, which the squirel ran directly into. The bubbles themselves didn't cause much damage individually, but with each one Pachirisu ran into, it slowed down tremendously. As it emerged from the bubbles, Piplup was standing right infront of it.

"Now Piplup, use Pound!"

The Penguin drew its fin back and hit the Pachirisu, knocking it back into the bubbles and knocking it out. Pachirisu had still been using Spark however, and Piplup was injured by the attack causing it too to faint.

"Both Pokemon are unanble to battle! Do, both trainers have another Pokemon ready?" asked the ref as both trainers returned their pokemon.

"I'm ready," said Dawn.

"I'm not," said Liv. "Pachirisu's my only pokemon."

"Then the victory goes to Dawn!"

"Awesome!" Dawn said. She walked over to Liv and held out her hand. "That was a good battle, I had fun." The smaller girl shook her hand.

"Yeah, me too. I guess I have a lot of practicing to do." She went into the crowd as Dawn went to her three friends.

"That was awesome Dawn!" Jason said giving her a highfive.

"You managed to tie even with a type disadvantage," mentioned Lucas.

"Thanks guys," Dawn said smiling.

Barry looked like a 5 year old that had too much candy. "When's it going to be my turn?" he asked impatiently.

"ATTENTION! FOR THE SECOND MATCH, WOULD THE WINNER OF BLOCK C, BARRY, AND THE WINNER OF BLOCK D, LIZ, PLEASE COME TO THE BATTLEFIELD?"

"Well, there you go. Good luck, Barry," said Lucas.

"I won't need it! Ready or not, here I come!" he said running over to his spot on the battlefield. He looked over to his opponent, who appeared to be an exact replica of the girl Dawn battled. "Didn't you just battle?" he asked, confusedly.

"Nope, that was Liv. My name's Liz. Were twins!" she said beaming.

"If both trainers are ready, begin!"

"Go Chimchar!" said Barry releasing his starter, a small red monkey with a flame where a tail would be.

"Chimchar!" it said, jumping up and down.

"Go Pachirisu!" said Liz letting out the same pokemon as her sister.

"Chimchar, use Ember!"

"Pachrisu, go around it and use Spark!"

The monkey shot a stream of flames at Pachirisu, but the squirrel ran to the left and arched to hit Chimchar with its attack.

"Chimchar, use Scratch!"

Chimchar met Pachirisu's attack with its own, but as with Dawn's battle both pokemon took damage.

"Pachirisu, use Spark again!"

The squirrel got up and repeated its attack, this time without resistance. Chimchar was sent back towards its trainer, but managed to land on its feet despite the damage it had taken.

"Chimchar, use Ember again!" commanded Barry.

"Pachirisu, dodge it and use Spark!"

The squirrel was ready to dodge the attack as it had earlier, but Chimchar's flame had grown larger and its attack had a wider range this time around. Pachirisu took the full hit and was knocked back and knocked out.

"Oh no, that was alot stronger than the first time!" said Liz returning her pokemon.

"Pachirisu is unable to battle! Do you have another pokemon ready?" asked thejudge. "No, just like my sister."

"Then the winner is Barry!"

"Wohoo!" yelled Barry, jumping up and down. "Sorry, but my Chimchar was just stronger," he told the girl.

"Not nessesarily," said Lucas as he, Dawn, and Jason walked up to their friend. "Chimchar's ability makes its fire attacks stronger when it's weak. You just had a boost."

"Aw, way to kill my high," replied Barry. "But how do you know I wasn't waiting for it to happen?" he asked rhetorically.

"WOULD THE WINNER OF BLOCK E, JASON, AND THE WINNER OF BLOCK F, LUCAS, PLEASE COME TO THE BATTLEFIELD FOR THE THIRD MATCH?"

Everyone paused for a second, as none of them had actually thought about them having to face each other. Lucas broke the silence. "Well, looks like you get your battle with me after all."

Jason smiled. "Yeah, let's make it a good one. May the best trainer win," he said holding out his hand, which Lucas gladly shook before they went to opposite sides of the battlefield.

"Man, I don't know who to root for," said Dawn, still shocked to see that two of them had to battle.

"That's easy," said Barry. "Just root for both of 'em, and enjoy the match."

"If both trainers are ready, begin!"

"Go Charmander!" Jason said.

"Go Starly!" said Lucas.

As both pokemon appeared, Jason laughed a little. "What's up?" asked Lucas.

"Oh, it's just that my first trainer battle was against a Starly too."

"Huh, what a coincidence. But this'll probably be different than your first battle, now Starly use Quick Attack!"

The bird pokemon flew directly at Charmander and knocked it over before Jason had time to react.

"Geez, your Starly's fast. Charmander, use Ember!" he commanded.

Charmander got to its feet and shot a stream of flames at the bird.

"Dodge, and use Wing Attack!"

Starly flew around the flames with ease and flew at charmander again.

"Charmander use Metal Claw!" said Jason.

"Starly use Double Team!" said Lucas.

Starly split in to multiple images of itself as it kept flying at Charmander. The lizard pokemon attempted to stike at one, only to have its claw pass right through. Starly used this opening to strike Charmander in the head, knocking it down again.

'Alright, time to use an old trick,' thought Jason as Charmander got back up again. Charmander, use Ember straight up in the air!"

Charmander smiled remebering their first trainer battle. It sent its stream of flames up and, just as before, they spread out like a water spout and rained down on all of the Starlys. The images dissapeared as the real one fell from taking damage. This gave Charmander the opportunity to attack with Scratch, not needing an order, and knocked Starly to the ground.

"Starly is unable to battle!" declared the ref as Lucas returned the pokemon. In the crowd, Dawn laughed.

"What's so funny?" Barry asked, not wanting to be left out of a joke.

"Jason told me about his first trainer battle and that was the exact same way they ended it." Dawn explained.

"That was a good move," complimented Lucas. "But Starly did manage to get some hits in, and that's exactly what I needed. Let's go, Turtwig!"

A small, geen turtle with a leaf growing out of its head appeared.

'Alright, I get the type advantage,' thought Jason.

"Turtwig, use Razor Leaf!" said Lucas.

"Ember, Charmander!"

The turtle sent out a flurry of leaves at Charmander, but the lizard pokemon shot out a stream of flames that burned all of the leaves before they could hit. But this was just a distraction as Turtwig was running under the flames and right at Charmander.

"Now use Tackle!" ordered Lucas.

Turtwig lunged and slammed into Charmander before Jason knew what was happening. The lizard was knocked back and began breathing heavily as all the damage began to build up.

"Charmander, use Ember straight up again!" said Jason hoping, to hit Turtwig with the large range of the attack.

"I won't fall for the same trick twice!" said Lucas. "Turtwig, Withdraw!"

As the flames of Charmander's attack came down, Turtwig pulled itself into its shell, minimizing the damage.

"Time to rap this up! Turtwig, use tackle!"

'Wait for it...wait for it...now!' "Charmander, use Ember!"

Just as Turtwig jumped at the lizard pokemon, Charmander let loose a strong stream of flames that blasted Turtwig back to Lucas, knocked out.

"Turtwig is unable to battle! Do you have any other pokemon?"

"No," said Lucas as he returned Turtwig. "That was it."

"Then Jason is the Winner!" the ref said.

Jason returned the exhausted Charmander and walked over to Lucas. "Good battle, dude. That was awesome," he said.

"Yeah, I thought I had you, but I wasn't fast enough. I had lots of fun tho'," replied Lucas, shaking Jason's hand as Dawn and Barry ran up.

"Dude, that was so awesome!" yelled Barry.

"You both did great!" agreed Dawn.

"Thanks," said Jason and Lucas. "Now lets go get our pokemon healed, they could use the rest."

"But don't you want to see who you'll be facing tomorrow?" asked Dawn.

"Nah, it's more fun if I don't know what I'm up against." said Jason.

They went to get their pokemon healed and decided to all go out to eat. They went to a pizza place and talked about their journeys so far as they ate. Dawn and Jason sat across from Barry and Lucas as their pokemon ate on the floor next to them.

"So you beat my Starly the same way you won your first trainer battle? I was wondering why Charmander attacked without you giving an order." said Lucas.

"You don't mind if me and Chimchar use that move, do ya?" asked Barry through a mouthfull of pizza.

"Sure, just don't spit pizza at me again," joked Jason.

"Man, Barry, you're just like your Chimchar," Lucas pointed out as Chimchar was spilling its food as it ate.

"Yeah, well you're just like your Turtwig! A slow turtle!"

"So, you two are traveling together?" Lucas asked Jason and Dawn.

"Yeah, we decided that it would probably be safer and we could keep eachother company," Dawn said, answering for Jason since he had just taken a bite out of his pizza.

"That makes sense," said Lucas. "Say Barry, how about we start traveling together too?"

Barry swallowed before he talked this time. "Sure, I guess. Of course..." he said as he and Lucas turned toward Jason and Dawn with sly smiles on their faces.

"...it won't be like with you two," finished Lucas.

Jason choked on his drink as he and Dawn started blushing. "What are you talking about?" they said at the same time. This just made Lucas and Barry break out laughing.

They all payed for their meals and went back to the Pokemon Center.

"So it's me against Dawn and Jason against... somebody. Tomorrow's going to be fun!" Exclaimed Barry.

"Yeah, for you guys. I just get to watch," said Lucas.

"Sorry about that," Jason said.

"Nah, it's okay. Well, good night everybody."

"See ya later!" said Barry as he and Lucas went into their rooms.

"Well, good night Dawn," said Jason. "Good luck tomorrow."

"Yeah, you too. Good night," she said as they went to their rooms and slept in preparation of the battles that the next day held.

Hello again. I'd like to say that I am sorry that I have once again taken way too long to update. This time, it was just out of sheer lazyness.

Well, I didn't bring in the character from the anime. But can you blame me? Nobody guessed! Besides, this was my longest chapter ever! And all that really happened was battling.

Well, next time I'll bring in the new guy for sure. I really should be updating sooner this time, as the tournament will end and the story will move on. So farewell for now, and send in more reviews!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Realized Limits

Everyone was up and ready for their second day in the Floaroma Tournament. Although some people (mainly those that had lost the previous day) had left, a good crowd still remained. Even in a world filled with Pokémon, battles were still always impressive sights to behold. The announcer/referee picked up his microphone to call forth the first two competitors of the day. "IT'S TIME FOR THE SEMI-FINAL ROUND OF THIS TOURNAMENT! WOULD DAWN AND BARRY PLEASE COME TO THE BATTLEFIELD?" The two trainers walked out onto the make-shift field and shook hands.

"Don't be too upset when I win, okay?" the blonde boy said jokingly to his opponent.

The blue-haired girl laughed. "I could say the same to you." The pair walked to opposite sides and awaited the ref's signal.

"Are both trainers ready?" The two nodded. "Begin!"

"Go Piplup!" Dawn said as she called out her small, blue penguin Pokémon.

"You're on Chimchar!" Barry yelled followed by the appearance of his red-furred monkey. "Use Ember!"

"Piplup, use Bubble!" Dawn responded.

The small flames met the bubbles right in the middle of the field, cancelling each other out.

"Okay Chimchar, now get in close and use Scratch!"

"Use Bubble straight down!"

As the monkey drew closer to its target, the penguin propelled itself into the air.

"Now you can't dodge!" Barry exclaimed, a smirk forming on his face. "Chimchar, use Fury Swipes!"

The fire Pokémon ran under its opponent and jumped up to swipe at it a few times, keeping it in the air. As both began to descend, the penguin looked down at its victim.

"And now you can't dodge! Piplup use Bubble!" the female trainer said when her timing was correct. The attack perfectly hit its target causing it to fall even faster. The damage caused by both the attack and the impact with the ground was too much for the Pokémon and it fainted.

"No way!" Barry said when his Pokémon hit the ground.

The ref raised his hand to signal Barry. "Chimchar is unable to battle; do you have another Pokémon ready?"

"Yeah," the blonde responded as he returned his starting partner. He put its pokéball on his belt and pulled off his second. "Time for Bidoof!" He threw the ball into the air released the brown mouse/beaver.

"Continue!"

"Bidoof, use Defense Curl!"

"Attack it with Bubble, Piplup!" Dawn ordered.

The new Pokémon curled itself up like a ball as it was bombarded.

"Plow through them with Rollout!" Barry yelled excitedly. His Pokémon began to roll towards Piplup, crushing every bubble it came in contact with. It rammed into Piplup, who was sent flying back, before returning to its trainer's side of the field.

"Piplup!" Dawn cried as she stepped back to catch her fainted Pokémon. "You did great," she told it before returning it to its pokéball. "Alright, time to finish this up. Go Buneary!" The rabbit Pokémon came out and stood ready to fight.

"Keep up the Rollout!" Barry ordered his Pokémon who continued to roll around at its opponent.

"Not this time." Dawn said. "Jump over it!" Buneary listened to the command and hopped over the attacker who passed under it. "Now use Ice Beam!" The cold blast was fired, but the rolling Pokémon easily avoided it.

"Turn around and hit it as it lands!" the blonde trainer said.

"Use Endure!"

The rabbit braced itself when it landed and Bidoof rolled directly into it. Though it took a lot of damage, Buneary managed to stop the mouse's rolling and had it at point blank range.

"Now, Ice Beam!" The rabbit let out its attack and blasted the enemy all the way to the opposite end of the field where it landed knocked out.

The ref signaled Barry again, "Bidoof is unable to battle! Are there any remaining Pokémon?" The blonde shook his head in defeat. "Then the winner is Dawn! She moves on to the finals!"

The female trainer returned her Pokémon, thanking it on its job well done, and walked over to Barry as Jason and Lucas came out from the crowd.

"Awesome battle!" the boy in the striped hat said to Dawn congratulating her. "Using Endure to stop Rollout was great, I'd have never thought of that!"

"Thanks," she said before turning to look at Barry who still had his head hung after returning his Pokémon. "He almost had me."

"Cheer up, man," Lucas told his friend. "Everyone has their losses now and then, get over it."

In response, Barry straightened up and got a determined look in his eyes. "Alright, no time to waste! C'mon Lucas we're gonna head off to the next town!" He started to run but looked back at Jason and Dawn. "Next time we're gonna be so strong, you won't stand a chance!" he said before taking off.

"Ugh, I can't believe I'm traveling with that guy now. Let us know how this tourney turned out." Lucas said before he chased after his friend.

"Never a moment's rest with Barry, huh?" Dawn remarked as they watched the two go. "Anyways, it's your turn now," she said turning to Jason. "I'm gonna go ahead and watch from the crowd. Good luck!"

"Thanks. See you in the finals," he replied as she left the field.

"THE NEXT SEMI-FINAL ROUND IS ABOUT TO BEGIN! WOULD BOTH JASON AND OTOSHI COME TO THE BATTLEFIELD?"

'_Huh,' _Jason thought. _'Why does that name sound so familiar…?' _He looked up to see his opponent approach him and he did a double take. _'Him?!'_ The taller boy was dressed in samurai robes with a wooden sword at his side. His black hair was tied back in a large ponytail with bangs hanging in front of his face.

"Hello," he said holding his hand out. "I'm Otoshi. Let's have a good battle."

"Y-yeah," Jason said as he shook the older boy's hand before they went to opposite sides of the battlefield.

"Both trainers ready? Begin!" announced the ref.

"Go Charmander!" Jason said as he released his lizard Pokémon which let out a small roar.

"I choose Dodrio!" Otoshi said, sending out a large ostrich-like Pokémon with three heads and long beaks.

'_Dude, I'm getting to battle my favorite character-of-the-day!'_Jason thought, spacing out but snapping back into reality when his opponent ordered his Pokémon's first move.

"Dodrio, use Fury Attack!" The large bird ran towards its prey as it drew back its heads.

"Charmander, use Ember!" Jason commanded. The lizard spit out a small stream of flames towards Dodrio, but it jumped far above them and came down on Charmander with its attack, pecking away a few times. "No! Use Ember to throw it off!" The lizard repeated its attack, this time hitting the target which jumped off.

"Finish it with Tri Attack!" Otoshi said.

The bird shot flames, ice, and electricity all in one blast at Charmander. "Dodge it!" Jason said before it could hit and the fire Pokémon barely managed to get out of the way. "Ember!" The Pokémon drew back its head, but instead of the small red flames that normally came out, Charmander let loose a larger stream of blue and green flames which engulfed Dodrio. The bird cried as it was hit by the fire.

"That wasn't Ember!" exclaimed a surprised Otoshi.

"Sweet, Dragon Rage! Do it again!" Jason ordered while his opponent was confused as to the new attack. Charmander repeated its action and the stronger attack was too much for Dodrio who collapsed to the ground.

"Dodrio is unable to battle!" announced the ref as the swordsman withdrew his Pokémon.

"That was great but, now I'll use Marowak!" He tossed out the pokéball which revealed a Pokémon with a skull it was wearing as a mask and a bone in its hand. "Attack with Bonemerang!"

The Pokémon threw its bone straight at Charmander who ducked to avoid it. "You'll have to do better than-, what?!" Jason stopped his sentence as he saw the bone arch around to hit Charmander in the back, knocking it to the ground.

"Looks like your Pokémon cannot take anymore, you should return it," stated Otoshi.

"You wish," Jason responded as his Pokémon slowly got back up to its feet, panting heavily. "Charmander, use Dragon Rage!"

"Marowak, Bone Club!"

As the lizard used its new attack, its opponent ran straight through the flames without slowing, and slashed its bone like a sword across Charmander. The fire Pokémon stood for only a moment before it fell down, unable to battle any longer.

"Charmander is unable to battle! Does the trainer have another Pokémon?" the ref asked, receiving a shake of the head. "Then Otoshi is the winner! The two finalists have ten minutes to heal their Pokémon and return to the field."

"It was over so fast," Jason said to himself as he returned his starter to its pokéball. Dawn ran out from the crowd over to him.

"Are you okay?" she asked, worried since it was Jason's first loss. He stared down at the pokéball in his hands for a moment more before looking up at her with a smile.

"Yeah, everyone's got to lose sometime I guess. Sorry I couldn't make it to the finals." He turned to look at Otoshi who was approaching them. "That was an awesome match, thanks."

"You're welcome, I enjoyed it too," the swordsman said as they shook hands again. "Your Charmander is strong; I've just got a bit of an edge experience wise."

"What do you mean?" Dawn asked as the three of them began to walk towards the Pokémon Center.

"Well, my Pokémon are not evolved without reason. We have been through the Kanto Pokémon League," he said proudly.

"Wow, so you've got like, a whole journey on us."

"You could say that."

They all healed their Pokémon as Otoshi told them of his journey through Kanto. Jason noted that there had been no trouble there from Team Rocket or anyone else, letting him get a better fix on when he was. Once they were ready, they returned to the battlefield and Jason went to watch from the crowd receiving various compliments on his battles.

"Final round of the Floaroma Tournament, begin!"

"Go Buneary!" Dawn said as the rabbit appeared.

"Let's go, Marowak!" Otoshi's star Pokémon appeared, slashing at the air to show it was ready to battle.

'_Lucky me, both of his Pokémon are weak to ice._' "Attack with Ice Beam!" the girl commanded. Buneary wasted no time in blasting its opponent with the cold attack, but Marowak seemed to hardly be affected by it.

"It will take more than that to beat us! Marowak, Bone Club!" the swordsman ordered as his Pokémon rushed towards its foe. It swung at the rabbit, but Buneary jumped into the air to avoid it.

"Now Buneary, use Ice Beam again!"

"Use Bonemerang!"

The rabbit let loose its attack as its opponent threw its weapon towards it. Both attacks connected, Marowak more feeling this one, and Buneary being knocked further in the air. The bone arched around for the second hit which sent the target Pokémon crashing into the ground. When the dust cleared, the Pokémon was revealed to be unconscious.

"Buneary is unable to battle," the ref announced.

Dawn returned her Pokémon, thanking it for its performance. '_Darn, I thought for sure I'd be able to at least knock out one Pokémon with Buneary,'_she thought as she pulled out her other pokéball. "Go Piplup!" Her penguin came out and let out a small cry to show that it was ready and eager. "Use Bubble!"

"Bonemerang again!" Otoshi ordered as the opposing Pokémon shot out a stream of bubbles. Marowak once again threw its bone at its opponent, hitting a few bubbles along the way, but not enough to avoid taking hits. The penguin ducked the incoming projectile.

"Jump!" Dawn said having seen the attack now twice before. Her Pokémon obeyed and avoided the second strike of the bone attack. "Now go in and use Pound!" Piplup ran at its opponent and hit it with a fin as it caught its bone. The Pokémon fell back and collapsed from all the hits it had taken.

"Marowak is unable to battle!"

"This is a good battle, but it is time to wrap it up," Otoshi said as his Pokémon returned to its pokéball. "Go, Dodrio!" The three-headed bird appeared and let out a caw. "Use Fury Attack!"

"Bubble!"

Bubbles filled the space in front of the larger bird as it charged on its small prey, pecking through all the necessary ones before rapidly hitting the penguin Pokémon. "Follow up with Quick Attack!" Before it even had time to recover, Piplup was bashed by the bigger Pokémon and knocked back to its trainer fainted.

"Piplup is unable to battle! Can you continue?" Dawn shook her head as she returned her Pokémon. "Then the winner of the Floaroma Town Tournament is, Otoshi!" The crowd clapped and cheered for the two finalists as Otoshi also returned his Pokémon. "Congratulations," said the announcer as he approached the winner. "Your prize is this rare Dawn Stone."

"Thank you," the swordsman said as he took the prize, admiring it briefly before he stuffed it in his robe.

"Another big round of applause for our winner!" the announcer said and crowd complied.

Jason walked over to Dawn who turned to see him. "Way to go out there, you did great," he told her.

"Yeah," she replied. "Looks like neither of us can beat him."

"Neither of us can beat him yet." Jason corrected as Otoshi walked over to them. "Congrats, man, you beat us good."

"Not at all, you two are very good, and I hope to battle you again," he replied honestly.

"Count on it," Dawn said. "We're going to look at the flower fields after I heal Piplup and Buneary, wanna come?"

"Sorry, but I think I will go ahead and continue towards the next town. It will be a long walk."

"Guess we'll see ya later then," Jason said as he and Dawn went back to the Pokémon Center and Otoshi went down the road out of town.

* * *

After healing Dawn's Pokémon, they grabbed a couple of sandwiches from a small deli for lunch and went out see the flowers. "Wow," Dawn said as they began to walk through the fields. "It's all so beautiful."

"No kidding," Jason replied as he gazed across the seemingly endless fields. "Something like this you just have to see for yourself. Plus taking a break after the tournament is nice."

"Yeah, that was a lot of-, look!" she said pointing to a small opening in the nearby tree line. Jason looked over to see two Galactic goons walk through the trees with pokéballs pulled out.

"Great," he said with a sigh. "We take a little time off and these guys show up. Should we go see what they're up to?" He already knew the answer.

"Yeah, after what they tried with Prof. Rowan, why wouldn't we?" Dawn replied as they ran over to where the Galactics went. As they followed the path, it opened up to another field with a large tree, and by it were the two bothering a man.

"Give us all the honey you have!" The first one demanded.

"We are not afraid to take it by force if we have to!" the second added.

"Hey!" Jason yelled drawing their attention to him and Dawn. "Don't you guys ever do anything besides bother people for their things?"

"Witnesses," the first one said. "Keep them from running."

"On it," said the other as they both released their Pokémon, a Stunky and a Zubat.

"Who's running?" remarked Dawn as she let out her Piplup and Jason sent out Charmander.

"Use Scratch, Stunky!"

"Bite, Zubat!"

"Piplup, use Bubble on Stunky!" Dawn ordered as the skunk ran at her Pokémon. It blasted the foe backwards a good distance.

"Smash it with Metal Claw!" Charmander waited until Zubat was in striking distance and hit it down into its battle partner. "Now use Dragon Rage on both of them!" The lizard let out its green and blue flames which knocked the Galactics' Pokémon into their trainers and causing them both to faint.

"Agh," one of the Galactics let out as they climbed to their feet. "If we weren't the lowest ranks, we wouldn't be beaten by some kids."

"Let's just get back," the other said as they returned their Pokémon and ran off before Jason or Dawn could try to stop them.

Dawn began to give chase, but stopped when she saw that Jason wasn't doing the same. "Aren't we going after them?" she asked. Jason shook his head.

"Well, uh, we don't really know where they're headed," he said as he remembered the order of events from the games. He turned around, and sure enough, the man the two Galactics were hassling was picking up a plastic card off of the ground.

"Looks like you knocked this off of them. It's…a Valley Windworks Key." the man said as he examined the card.

"Excuse me," Jason said as he approached the man. "Do you think we could have that?"

"Sure, I'm not going to use it," said the man as he handed it over. "If you don't mind me asking though, what were you planning to do with it?"

"If those guys had it, then there are probably more at the Windworks. We're gonna go clean 'em outta there," Jason replied with a smirk.

"Are you okay?" Dawn asked the man as she walked up next to her friend. The man nodded in response as he wondered who these kids were to be taking on criminals. "What did they want out here?" The man turned and pointed to a nearby tree that had something slathered on it.

"I sell honey that's sweet enough to attract Pokémon with its smell. They wanted to take it from me, but I'm not sure what for," he said with a worried look on his face. "They weren't making a lot of sense."

"Well, you should be fine now. C'mon Dawn, we know where they are now," Jason said.

"Right," she said.

They ran back into town and followed the road out. As they started down the road, they saw someone coming the other way who tried to get their attention.

"Hey, over here!" Otoshi said waving. As Jason and Dawn went to him, they saw that he was carrying a small girl on his back.

Dawn was the first to ask. "Who's that?"

"Well, I was heading to the next town, but as soon as I got out of the city this girl ran up to me. She said that her father hadn't come home from the Valley Windworks for a few days," the samurai explained. "So we went over there and there was someone who said they were from a 'Team Galactic'. I beat his Pokémon, but he locked us out. We were heading into town to find a key card."

"Got it right here," Jason said pulling out said card. "We found some of them trying to steal honey from a guy in the fields, and got this off them. We're heading over there now to go drive them out."

"Great!" Otoshi said as they all began again down the road. After a few minutes, they found the large building surrounded by even larger windmills. They came up to the front door and Jason slid the key card through a scanner. The light on the handle turned green and they went inside.

Once inside they immediately found a goon who considerably paled when he saw the group. "What?! How did you-?" he said before turning and running down the hallway shouting, "Intruders!"

"Well now," Jason said. "That could be a problem." They all went down the hall and turned into a large room with prepared Galactics. They all released their Pokémon who charged at the group. "It's show time, Charmander!" Jason threw the ball up and released the fire lizard.

"Char!" the Pokémon cried.

"Use Dragon Rage!" the boy commanded as Dawn and Otoshi let out Piplup and Dodrio.

"Piplup, Bubble!"

"Dodrio, Tri Attack!"

The combined attacks repelled the oncoming group of standard grunt-owned poison Pokémon and knocked them back.

"Finish them with Fury Attack!" Otoshi ordered. The three-headed bird swiftly ran over and pecked at each Pokémon until they all fainted. As the Galactics withdrew their defeated Pokémon, the group headed into the next room to find two more Galactics, although with differing uniforms from the ones they had encountered so far. In the corner there also was a man in a lab coat working on a machine being watched by another grunt.

"Hey!" Jason said to get their attention. "Are you the ones in-charge?!"

"Well, what have we here?" said a red haired woman as she turned to face them. "A bunch of kids got past our grunts? What good are they?" She waved her hand dismissively in the air. "Well, no matter. I am Commander Mars, one of the four Galactic Commanders."

"What do you want here?" Dawn said angrily.

"We're trying to create a new and better world. Unfortunately, people like you have shown little understanding about what we are doing. It is quite saddening…" she said, pretending to be upset.

The man at the machine looked back to see who had come when he recognized the little girl with the group. "My daughter!" he exclaimed as he tried to get up but was forced back to the machine by the grunt standing near him.

"Papa!"

"Let this girl's father go!" Otoshi demanded.

"Sorry, but we're still using him. However, since you seem to be decent at battling, how about a deal? If I win, you all will have to leave, but if you win then we, Team Galactic, will leave." Mars pulled out a pokéball as she issued her challenge.

Jason stepped forward with Charmander. "That works for us!"

"Be careful," Dawn warned as the Galactic Commander sent out a floating shield-like Pokémon.

"I think we'll start off easy. Bronzor, use Confusion!" The Pokémon glowed lightly and sent a visible "force" towards the lizard.

"Ember, Charmander!" Jason commanded. The fire Pokémon let loose its small flames but they were repelled by the oncoming Confusion attack. Charmander was hit by the psychic attack and flew back a few feet before crashing to the floor.

"Hah, looks like you need to strengthen up your Pokémon a bit more! That attack was far too weak!" Mars gloated.

"Oh yeah," Jason said as he helped his Pokémon to its feet. "Well how about this? Dragon Rage!"

"Use Confusion again!" the red-head ordered as the opposing Pokémon shot out its flames. The two attacks met, but this time it was Charmander's attack that pushed through. Bronzor was engulfed in the blue and green fire and cried out as it was pushed backwards through the air.

"Now follow it up with another Ember!" The lizard's fire pelted the steel-type and it fell to the floor, unable to consciously keep itself levitating any longer. The Galactic merely frowned as she returned her defeated Pokémon and prepared a new ball.

"Not bad, but let's see how you handle this!" She threw her pokéball up and released a large cat that was heavily built. "Purugly, use Hypnosis!" she commanded.

"No, Charmander don't look!" Jason tried to warn his partner, but it was too late as the fire Pokémon looked at its opponent's glowing eyes and fell into sleep.

"Now, use Fury Swipes!" The cat pounced over onto its foe and began scratching away at its body. After a few hits it knocked it back to its trainer, where it briefly opened its eyes only to fall back into unconsciousness.

"That was…too quick…" Jason said disbelievingly as he dropped to his knees next to his knocked out Pokémon.

"Was that all you've got?" Mars asked mockingly. "Who's next?"

Dawn bent down to her friend's side as Otoshi and Dodrio took on the Galactic commander. "Are you alright?" she asked carefully, seeing the devastated look on his face.

Jason stared at his defeated Pokémon, his mind still replaying the loss he just experienced. "I'm sorry," he said to Charmander. "Looks like I'm not good enough yet." He pulled out its pokéball and returned it, letting it rest. He slowly stood up and Dawn did with him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"You know, it's okay to lose once in a while," she told him as she tried to comfort him with a smile. "The world's not going to end."

"Well, yeah," he responded, now feeling embarrassed about how immature he probably looked. "I know that it's just been a few day since I started, but I haven't lost before today, and I guess I thought I could just keep winning forever, that'd it'd be easy. And on top of that I lost to a Galactic, the bad guys." He looked with a sad face at the pokéball in his hand. "It's like I still thought that this was just a game, and wasn't taking it seriously."

"What do you mean, 'just a game'?" Dawn asked with a confused expression.

"Oh, uh," Jason said as he realized he was saying something that he probably shouldn't. "What I meant was that, um…"

"Ah, no!" came an angry voice.

The two friends looked up to see Mars' Purugly fainted on the ground. At some time Otoshi must have switched Pokémon because instead of his Dodrio, he had a Ralts standing in front of the defeated cat. The commander withdrew her Pokémon. "I suppose, being the loser, I have nothing to say except that I enjoyed our battle."

"My, my. They aren't even adults and yet you lost," spoke the other above-grunt Galactic. He was an older man, and by the looks of his uniform, a scientist. "But it is of little consequence. We have already collected more than enough electricity, and we will be able to do quite spectacular things with this power. Now, Mars, we should be going."

"Cram it!" responded the red-head, scowling at the man. "I only take orders from the boss, so you can just keep quiet around me!" She turned to face the group as she pulled out another pokéball. "I suppose it is time for us to be leaving." She opened the ball to reveal another Bronzor. "Sandstorm!" The Pokémon began to spin and generate sand, causing it to fly throughout the room. The group shielded their eyes, and when the sandstorm died down, every Galactic had left.

"Papa!" the little girl shouted as she ran over to her father. The man picked up his daughter and embraced her in a hug.

"I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't get to see you again," he told her before putting her down and looking towards the teens. "Thank you for rescuing me and reuniting me with my daughter. I can't tell you how grateful I am."

"Don't mention it," Dawn replied, smiling at the happy scene.

"Do you know what they were here for?" asked Otoshi.

"Mars and Charon, you heard that they were from Team Galactic right? They were saying that they had to gather Pokémon and energy no matter what, something about creating a new universe." He sighed. "Nothing they said made any sort of sense to me."

Jason laughed. "It's okay, they don't make sense to us either."

"C'mon Papa!" the little girl said while pulling on the man's coat. "You need to get home and shower! You're stinky!"

"Alright dear," the man said, chuckling at his daughter's words. "Thank you all again," he told the group before he and his daughter left.

"Aw, that's so cute," Dawn said happily.

"Yep," Jason nodded, grinning at the happy ending. "We did good. C'mon let's get out of here."

As they left the building they were approached by a man with brown hair in a brown trench coat that made him look, in Jason's opinion, like an old-school detective. "You there! Have you seen a group called Team Galactic?" he asked.

"Who are you?" questioned Otoshi.

The man pulled out a badge to show them. "I'm an Interpol agent known as Looker. I came here because I heard that Team Galactic appeared at this building. So, Team Galactic. Where are they?"

"Um well, you see," Jason said scratching the back of his head, "We kinda already beat you to them."

"What?!" Looker said appearing shocked. "You're obviously trainers, but…? Very well then! I shall go investigate inside!" He moved past the group to enter the building.

"Is he really an Interpol agent?" Dawn wondered out loud.

"He doesn't seem very professional, does he?" Jason commented.

The door opened and Looker came back outside. "What you said is true! You three are amazing!" he said, making them all embarrassed at his praise. His phone began to ring and he answered it surprisingly quickly. "Hello? They're where? I'm on it!"

"Do you know where they are now?" asked Otoshi as the agent put away his phone.

"Yes, but that is not information I can share with you, be you great trainers or not. So I'm off!" He bolted down the path and out of sight before another word could be said.

"Should we be following him?" Dawn asked concerned as the group proceeded to walk the same path as it was the only way away from the Windworks.

"Nah," Jason replied casually. "If you haven't noticed, we have a knack for running into Galactic. I'm sure we'll see them again regardless, and we be stronger then too."

They came across a bridge about halfway back to Floaroma, and Otoshi stopped walking. "It would appear that this is where we part ways," he told the other two.

"You're not coming back to town?" Dawn asked, receiving a shake of the head.

"I have potions for my Dodrio and I'd rather continue on now."

"Well it was great meeting you," Jason told him as he held out his hand. "I'll be stronger next time, so we'll have to have a rematch."

Otoshi shook with him. "I'll be looking forward to it."

* * *

Wow, what to say. It's been almost a year and a half since I last updated. I suppose the first thing to say is I'm sorry to anyone with this still on their alerts or favorites. I've been avoiding this and my other fanfictions for so long, and I am ashamed. I definitely know that I can't keep three fics going at the same time, so I've decided to work on this one. I don't know if I'll continue it after the Sinnoh part is done, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. You can thank the new Heart Gold and Soul Silver versions of the games coming out soon for me actually deciding to get up off my lazy butt and work on this. I'm getting Soul Silver by the way, and if I do choose to continue this after Sinnoh, Johto will be the location for the next fic.

To anyone who may be reading this fic for the first time, I find it amazing that you would read through my horribly written first chapters (not that this one is much better, but practice makes perfect, right?). As you can see from the paragraph above, I'm not known for quick updates. But I'm still going to try again, so I'll be aiming for another chapter sometime within the next week.

Speaking of which, though this is my longest chapter to date, it still feels too short. What do any of you think? I'll try to make the next one closer to 10,000 if I can. So things to expect would be:

-Jason catching a new Pokémon

-Going to Eterna

-Both Jason and Dawn's Gym Battle

-An evolution

Well, that's all for now, it feels good to be doing this again. See ya around.


End file.
